Investigation is on but it has emerged that the route on which he was confronted by villagers is a regular for smugglers.

The owner of the field, Kailash Yadav, told Hindi daily Patrika that he often woke up to find footprints of men and cattle in his field that left his crops damaged. It was after repeated such incidents that residents decided to lay a trap and nab the culprits.

When they found Rakbar Khan, they handed him over to the police.



A controversy erupted after Rakbar Khan died on the same night under circumstances yet unknown. Rakbar Khan's post-mortem report says he had internal injuries, fractures and bruises all over the body. Initially, the assault was blamed on villagers, but photos showing Rakbar Khan alive and sitting upright in the police vehicle has now put the cops in the dock.

Slapping of charges against several villagers, including Kailash's son Dharmendra Yadav, is being questioned.

The photos of Rakbar Khan were clicked by Naval Kishore Sharma, Alwar's best-known gau rakshak. A resident of Ramgarh tehsil that is high on the target of smugglers, Sharma told Swarajya that it was he who informed the police after villagers "caught" Rakbar.

"Though I have been living in Ramgarh for 15 years, I hail from Lalawandi and am quite familiar with all routes of the village. That night, I was sleeping in my house when I received information from Lalawandi that villagers have caught a thief. I in turn called up a police officer who I regularly deal with. But my call was picked up by a new cop, one Mohan Singh, who informed me that he has joined duty only that day and the previous officer has been transferred. Mohan Singh requested me to accompany him to Lalawandi as he was new to the area. So together we went to Lalawandi, picked up Rakbar and returned to Ramgarh. Around 3 am, I went to the gaushala to hand over the rescued cows. When I returned to the police station, Rakbar was already dead," Sharma told Swarajya.

Sharma said he clicked Rakbar's photos while on way to Ramgarh. "The photos clearly show that Rakbar was fine and alive when he was handed over to the police. He even had tea on the way. He must have died in police custody," said Sharma when we met him at his residence in Ramgarh on Sunday (19 August).

"Dharmendra was also with me. He gave Rakbar a change of clothes in the police vehicle. But in a bid to save themselves, the police have arrested Dharmendra too," said Sharma, adding, "that man is innocent".

The handling of Rakbar's case has left Sharma and other gau rakshaks and villagers incensed. For one, they are convinced that Rakbar, a resident of Kolgaon village in Nuh district, was a smuggler.

"What kind of a dairy farmer walks with non-milch cows, at midnight, that too in the neighbouring state?" he asks. "We have rescued 18,000 cows. We know how they operate."

The Haryana government's move to grant Rs 8 lakh compensation to Rakbar's family has not gone down well with Sharma and his group. "The state is patronising smugglers," said Sharma.

The group, that has been holding protests asking for the “innocent” accused to be released, plans to embarrass the Haryana government over what it says is the government’s bias towards cow smugglers.

Phool Singh, a farmer and Sharma's aid, said they have decided that the next time they catch a cow smuggler, they would garland him and ask the Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar to felicitate him.

"Hum kahenge, Khattar sahab, aapka behnoi hai, isko uphaar do (We will hold a press conference and say, see Mr Khattar, your brother-in-law is here, time for you to shower him with gifts)," said Singh.