‘Pehlu Khan’s name not in charge sheet submitted by cops,’ says Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

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Updated: Jun 29, 2019 18:54 IST

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Saturday that Pehlu Khan’s name does not appear in the charge sheet submitted by the state police in December 2018, and emphasised that the Congress party was strongly against lynching committed anywhere in the country.

“News reported in the Indian Express is factually incorrect. Name of late #Pehlu Khan is not there in the charge sheet submitted by #Rajasthan Police in December 2018,” Gehlot tweeted.

“The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of lynching anywhere in the country and our government is vigilant enough to ensure it will not happen again,” read another tweet by the Rajasthan CM.

The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of Lynching anywhere in the country and our government is vigilant to ensure it will not have happened again.

1/4 — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) June 29, 2019

News reported in Indian Express is factually incorrect. Name of Late #PehluKhan is not there in the chargesheet submitted by #Rajasthan Police in December 2018.

2/4 — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) June 29, 2019

This is a separate case which was registered and investigated under previous government in 2017-18 against Mr Arif, Mr Irshad and Mr Khan Mohd (Transporter),

3/4 — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) June 29, 2019

since accused name in the chargesheet were not present at the time of the submission in December 2018, the District court accepted the Challan on 24thmay 2018. However, our government will see if investigation was done with predetermined intentions.

4/4 — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) June 29, 2019

Chief Minister Gehlot’s tweet comes a day after it was reported that Pehlu Khan, who was lynched to death in 2017 allegedly by cow vigilantes, was charge-sheeted for smuggling cattle.

“This is a separate case which was registered and investigated under the previous government in 2017-18 against three persons identified as Arif, Irshad, and Khan Mohd, transporter,” Gehlot said.

The Rajasthan CM said that the District Court had accepted the ‘challan’ on May 24, 2018, since the accused whose names were mentioned in the charge sheet were not present at the time of submission of the same.

He said that his government will probe if the investigation in the past was done with any “predetermined intentions.”

It was claimed earlier that the state police charge-sheeted Khan and his sons - Irsad (25) and Arif (22) - under various sections of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

Also read | ‘We expected justice from Congress govt, not chargesheet’: Pehlu Khan’s son

The purported charge sheet against Khan was prepared on December 30 last year, 13 days after the Congress came to power in the state under the chief ministership of Gehlot in the state.

The police had earlier given a clean chit to the six people accused of lynching Khan. The decision was based on the statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records.

55-year-old Khan, a native of Nuh in Haryana and a dairy farmer, was allegedly beaten up by self-styled cow vigilantes near Behror in Rajasthan on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1, accusing him of smuggling cattle. He succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on April 3.

(With agency inputs.)