ALWAR: Three days after 31-year-old Rakbar Khan was killed in Alwar while transporting cows, Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria claimed on Tuesday that it was "a custodial death " and the state government has already ordered a judicial probe into the incident.

Kataria visited the crime spot on Tuesday and met senior district officials, including those from the three-member committee formed by the state government to look into "police's role" in the death of Khan, who was lynched by alleged cow vigilantes on Saturday. "We have ordered a magisterial probe into the matter," the minister said.

The chief judicial magistrate, Alwar, will now probe the matter. The family of Rakbar Khan will be given an ex-gratia of Rs 1.25 lakh," Kataria told reporters. Kataria said local police was at fault for the alleged three-hour delay in taking Khan to hospital. Khan was brought dead to the community health centre at Ramgarh around 4am, roughly three hours after he was bashed up by a mob.

"It was the responsibility of the policemen, including then SHO Mohan Singh of Ramgarh police station, to first take the injured to the hospital. This is the reason why the SHO was suspended and three other policemen were sent to lines," he added.

The minister said Khan was taken to hospital in an injured condition and was declared brought dead. "Prima facie it appears to be a custodial death, thus a judicial probe has been ordered." On whether the victim was thrashed by police, Kataria said, "Whatever has taken place would be brought to fore by a fair investigation. If any policeman is found responsible stern action will be taken… I admit the policemen were at fault. A probe by the high-level committee of police has also commenced."

Meanwhile, the medical board constituted to conduct the postmortem of Rakbar has found "internal injuries, fractures and bruises" all over the body leading to his death. The doctors located injuries on the scapular and lumbar regions of his body, apart from bruises at several spots. The board also found "damage" in Khan's left lung, including the presence of blood. Multiple fractures and damage to Khan's ribs were also reported. Khan's liver and kidneys were pale.

