Rajasthan police hand over Pehlu lynching case to CB-CID

Having drawn flak from family members and social groups for the shoddy handling of the Pehlu Khan lynching case, the Rajasthan Police have handed the probe to the CB-CID wing.

Police were forced to change the investigating officers twice after coming under pressure for reported delays.

They said the probe was shifted to the CB-CID after considering a demand for a fair investigation from the victim’s family.

 “This is done looking at the larger interest of the case,” Additional Director General (Crime) Pankaj Singh said.

But Khan’s family is unhappy with the move. “We were satisfied with the investigation of Additional SP (Kotputli) Ram Swaroop Sharma,” his son Irshad told DH. “All we wanted was the arrest of the remaining culprits,” he added. 

The family is planning to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, demanding a probe by a special investigation team.

In April, Alwar SP transferred the investigation to Circle Officer Behror Parmal Singh instead of SHO Ramesh Chand, following criticism over delay in the probe. Social activists continued to target the state police, prompting the second transfer of the probe to Sharma.

On April 1, cow vigilantes attacked Khan (55) as he was transporting cattle procured from a weekly market in Jaipur to his village.

Two days later, Khan, who hailed from Nuh village in the Rajasthan-Haryana border area, succumbed at a hospital in Behror in Alwa district.