Rattled by reports of delayed response in dealing with the lynching of a Haryana resident Rakbar Khan in Alwar district by alleged cow vigilantes on Friday night, the Rajasthan police on Monday suspended an assistant sub-inspector, Mohan Singh, and sent three policemen of the Ramgarh station to the Police Lines as punishment.
They were prima facie found guilty of “error of judgment”.
A video purportedly showing Mr. Singh admitting to his “mistake”, went viral. “I made a mistake ... punish me or pardon me ... it is simple and straight,” he can be heard saying in the video.
A high-level team of four senior officers, appointed by Director-General of Police O.P. Galhotra, arrived at Ramgarh to investigate allegations of “deliberate delay” in taking the victim for medical treatment. Special DGP (Law & Order) N.R.K. Reddy, heading the team, admitted that there was a “time lapse of two hours”.
The records at the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Ramgarh have revealed that Rakbar, 31, was brought there almost four hours after he was waylaid and thrashed barely six kilometres away. The policemen allegedly first made arrangements to take the two cows to a gaushala before bringing Rakbar to the hospital.
While the cows reached their destination at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Rakbar was brought in to CHC at 4 a.m., after three hours in police custody. He was declared dead on arrival.
The members of the vigilante groups who informed the police about the suspected case of cow smuggling near Lalawandi village, have stated that the policemen took Rakbar in their vehicle to the Ramgarh police station, stopped to have tea and changed his clothes before taking him to the CHC. It is alleged that the policemen had thrashed Rakbar at the police station.
Home Department officers and a Police Headquarters spokesperson said the team would look into the alleged delayed response and other connected issues related with Rakbar’s murder, including the priority given to sending the cows to the gaushala .
The overall investigation has been shifted from Alwar and the charge handed over to Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime & Vigilance), Jaipur Range, Vandana Bhati.
Charge against MLA
Aslam, who managed to escape from the attack, alleged that the assailants had the support of BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja. In a written statement to the police, Aslam said he heard the assailants saying they had the backing of the MLA.
Mr. Ahuja dismissed the allegation as a conspiracy by certain police officials.
(With Ashok Kumar in Gurugram)
