Dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was beaten to death on Jaipur-Delhi highway in April 2017
A chargesheet has been filed against a dairy farmer, who was beaten to death in April 2017 by cow vigilantes, and his sons for transporting cattle allegedly without permission in Rajasthan.
Pehlu Khan and his two sons were transporting cows that they had bought at a cattle fair in state capital Jaipur to their home in Haryana. They were stopped on the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway by cow vigilantes and were severely beaten up. A cellphone video showed Pehlu Khan being yanked by the neck, thrown to the ground and kicked. Mr Khan died in hospital two days later.
Two First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed in the case - one was against eight people who allegedly lynched the dairy farmer, and the other was against him and his sons for transporting cattle allegedly without the district collector's permission.
The latest chargesheet was filed by the Rajasthan government in the second FIR. The case against Pehlu Khan will be closed as he has died, but it will continue against his sons.
The chargesheet accuses Pehlu Khan of wrongdoing under multiple sections of a Rajasthan law that seeks to protect cattle slaughter and smuggling.
"Investigation of this case was done in the past during the BJP government and chargesheet was presented. If any discrepancies are found in the investigation, case will be re-investigated," said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
All the eight accused are out on bail and two of them are untraceable.
Irshad Khan, Pehlu Khan's son who was with him when he was attacked, had told NDTV in April 2017, "I was with my father; these men called out to each other by name. These men stopped us first and began beating us up."
"We showed them papers (to prove they were not smuggling cows), but they tore them up and began beating us up," Irshad Khan had said. "They killed my father in front of me; there is no point in my being alive," he had said.