The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of Lynching anywhere in the country and our governme… https://t.co/YNndvEojNi — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) 1561805402000

ALWAR/JAIPUR/HYDERABAD: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday denied that Alwar lynch mob victim, dairy farmer Pehlu Khan , had been charged by police, adding that if the reports were true his government would check if the investigation had been pre-determined.“The case was investigated under the previous BJP government. Now that chargesheet has been filed, we will check if the entire case was probed properly,” Gehlot said, on the backfoot as news of Pehlu’s name on a charge sheet invited wide outrage.The CM called out the news reports as “factually incorrect”. “The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of lynching anywhere in the country,” Gehlot tweeted.Alwar SP Paris Deshmukh told TOI on Saturday that Khan and others had been found not to have the permit required to ferry cattle out of the state. This was in violation of the state’s Bovine Act of 1995 and that this was in the charge sheet summary. He said Khan had not been named an accused in the chargesheet posthumous.But the charge sheet presented in court on May 24, over two years after Khan’s lynching by cow vigilantes, named as accused Pehlu’s sons Irshad and Arif, and a third person. “Pehlu Khan’s name was dropped from the charge sheet. Filed on May 24 before the court, the charge sheet was against Khan’s two sons Irshad (25) and Arif (22) and a third person Khan Mohammad (55),” Deshmukh said, adding it was “inaccurate to call Khan a smuggler”.“As per RBA Act, prior transit permission is required to ferry cows out of Rajasthan. We did not find any such permission with Khan or the others; the administration had not issued any such permission,” Deshmukh said.The family is shattered that all its hopes of justice have been dashed. Speaking to TOI on Saturday, they said irrespective of the government in power, they lived in “constant state of fear”. Irshad, named in the charge sheet told TOI, “We got to know about the charge sheet on Saturday and still do not understand why my father who was killed by gaurakshaks was included. A man murdered is being labelled like this.”AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi urged Muslims of Rajasthan to stop supporting the Congress which he said was a “replica of the BJP” on the news that Khan’s name had been included in the charge sheet summary. “I appeal to Muslims of Rajasthan to… stop believing the Congress will come to your rescue… they never have,” said Owaisi.“The move by the Ashok Gehlot’s government is both sad and condemnable. Whenever the Congress comes to power, it becomes an exact replica of the BJP,” said the Hyderabad MP and urged Muslims to float their own party in Rajasthan.Pehlu Khan, his two sons and few others, were transporting cows from Jaipur to their native place in Haryana’s Nuh district when they were intercepted and thrashed by cow vigilantes near Behror in Alwar district on April 1, 2017. Pehlu died on April 3.The Behror police station registered seven FIRs in the matter — one for Khan’s murder and six for “illegal transport of bovines” as, the police say, six vehicles had been in use in the alleged crime. Police had already filed chargesheets in all cases barring one (FIR No: 253/17). Investigation in the last case was completed on December 30, 2018, but the charge sheet was presented in court only on May 24, 2019. Khan’s sons say they had bought cows from a cattle fair in Jaipur and had receipts for the same.For Pehlu Khan’s murder, seven accused were arrested and two minors detained. The charge sheet against all nine accused was finally submitted before additional district judge court in Behror on February 25 this year. The case is currently under trial.