india

Updated: Aug 22, 2019 01:27 IST

The special investigating team (SIT) formed to probe lapses in the original probe in the Pehlu Khan case began work on Wednesday, gathering records and visiting the spot where the Haryana farmer was lynched by alleged cow vigilantes.

DIG Nitin Deep Blaggan, head of the SIT, visited Behror on Wednesday and spent close to five hours in the police station, collecting records related to the case against nine people, including three minors, on charges of killing Pehlu Khan.

Behror PS falls in the newly created police district of Bhiwadi. Bhiwadi SP Amandeep Singh Kapoor confirmed that the SIT came to Behror and collected documents related to the case. “It’s an independent team and our job is to cooperate with them,” he said. Blaggan did not share details of the probe.

The team reached Behror around noon and was there until 5 pm. On its way back to Jaipur, it visited the spot on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway where the 55-year-old dairy farmer from Nuh in Haryana was beaten when he was taking two cows and two calves from an animal market in Jaipur to his home with his two sons, on April 1, 2017.

The SIT was formed by the state government on August 16 to look into lapses in the investigation that led to the acquittal of the six men accused in the case on August 14 by a court that gave them “benefit of the doubt” even as it pointed out glaring problems with the way the probe was conducted.

The acquittal came despite video clips that clearly showed Khan being beaten up. HT has previously reported that two video clips that captured a mob attacking Khan were cleared as genuine by a government forensics lab but not taken into account by the court because contradictory statements by investigating officers undercut their authenticity and raised doubts about the chain of events and probe.