Alwar mob lynching: Rakbar Khan was in police custody for three hours. He died on the way to hospital.
Highlights
- Rakbar Khan thrashed in Alwar on suspicion of cattle smuggling
- Taken to hospital over 3 hours after cops got call about attack, he died
- Man who called cops shares photo to claim he was alive when cops came
A photograph of Rakbar Khan -- the man who died in Rajasthan's Alwar allegedly after being beaten up by cow vigilantes -- sitting upright inside a police car has raised further questions about the role of the police in the attack. The photo has been circulated by Naval Kishore, the man who had placed a call to the police about the attack and accompanied them for most of their three-hour journey through the area before Rakbar Khan was taken to the hospital -- dead.
"We have no information yet about the victim being thrashed in custody, but yes, prima facie we have found that there was indeed an error in judgement in deciding what was important at that point," news agency ANI quoted NRK Reddy, Special Director General of Police, as saying on the role of the police a day after an NDTV investigation detected lapses on their part.
A doctor at the hospital told NDTV that the postmortem report shows he died of internal bleeding after a severe beating. Rakbar's brother said even his neck was broken. A woman witness, Maya, has told NDTV that the police were "beating the man in the vehicle and abusing him".
The photograph of Rakbar in the police car, however, proved that he was not grievously injured, contended Naval Kishore. "See I took this picture in the police vehicle. See, he looks fine," said Naval Kishore, implying that the man was fine before he was taken to the police station -- their last stop before he was taken to the hospital at 4 am.
Naval Kishore had parted company with the police after they had tea midway. As the police headed for the police station, he had taken the two cows that Rakbar Khan and his friend Aslam were accused of smuggling, to a local cow shelter.
At 4 am, Rakbar Khan was taken to a local hospital -- a journey that should have taken no more than 20 minutes after he was rescued from the mob at Alwar's Lallanwadi village around 1 am.
Action has been taken against three policemen. Assistant sub-inspector Mohan Singh was suspended and two constables were shifted to Police Lines as investigation into the matter confirmed lapses on their part.
Amid countrywide outrage over mob killings, the Centre said a group of ministers led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh would study the recommendations of a high-level panel to discuss ways to stop the attacks and then submit a report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.