Cow vigilantes beat man to death; Rajasthan minister blames the victim

A man who was assaulted by vigilantes over alleged smuggling of cows died at a hospital in Alwar district of Rajasthan on Monday following which the police has launched a manhunt for the accused.

In Jaipur, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said that it was “alright” that some people caught those who were illegally transporting animals but added that “no one has the right to take the law in their own hands”.

Police will take appropriate action against those who took law in their own hands, Kataria said.

The deceased, Pehlu Khan, 55, and four others including his two sons were beaten brutally by villagers on Saturday who suspected they were smuggling cows.

As many as 16 people were allegedly transporting 36 bovine animals illegally in six pick up vans.

They were on their way towards Haryana from Jaipur when the vigilantes stopped two of the vehicles in Behror on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway on Saturday.

Pehlu Khan, his sons Aarif, 22, and Irshad, 25, were in the first van while two more persons Ajmat, 28, and Sharif, 24, were in the second van.

All of them were thrashed and their vans damaged.

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The four vans which followed were also then stopped by the police in which 11 persons were found and arrested under sections of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, ASI of Behror police station Vikram Singh said.

The five men who were beaten were admitted to a district hospital where Pehlu Khan died on Monday night. The condition of the other injured is learnt to be stable, Singh said adding that they had not been placed under arrest so far.

Following Khan’s death, a case of murder registered against six persons namely Om Yadav, Hukamchand Yadav, Naveen Sharma, Sudhir Yadav, Rahul Saini and Jagmal while 200 other “unidentified” persons have also been listed as accused. 

No one has been arrested so far, Singh said. It is learnt that the police has formed several teams to nab the accused.