Alwar lynching: Police admit delay in taking victim to hospital, MHA seeks report from Rajasthan government

The Rajasthan Police on Monday admitted to a delay in taking Akbar Khan, the man allegedly beaten to death by a mob in always on Sunday, to a community health centre for treatment. The admission comes hours after a report in The Indian Express claimed that police had stopped to have tea, and got the victim’s clothes changed at the police station before taking him to the Ramgarh Community Health Centre.

Khan and his companion were intercepted by a mob in Ramgarh village on Alwar district on Friday morning on suspicion of cow smuggling and were thrashed brutally by cow vigilantes. While Khan, a native of Haryana, died on the spot, the person accompanying him suffered serious injuries.

According to the IE report, police took around three hours to reach the health centres which is roughly 4 km from the spot where Khan was killed. The FIR, however, mentions that Khan was directly taken to the health centre where he was declared brought dead. The police were acting on a complaint filed by Naval Kishore Sharma, chief of VHP’s Gau Raksha cell in Ramgarh, the report said.

Khan’s killing comes a year after Pehlu Khan was killed in the same district on the same suspicion.

Meanwhile, police said that a high-level team has been formed to probe the reasons for the delay in taking Khan to the health centre. DGP OP Galhotra said that the team will find out why so much time was wasted in taking Khan to the health centre from the site when he was attacked.

Police said that a detailed report will be submitted to the government after probing the incident. The Home Ministry has also sought a report from the state government on the incident. (Agencies)