Alwar attack’s survivor wants seized truck back

JAIPUR: Police are yet to speak to the truck driver who survived a deadly attack by cow vigilantes in Alwar earlier this month, despite being a key witness to the assault that left a Muslim man dead and the country outraged.

Arjun Kumar Yadav, 23, says he managed to escape the attack only after he told the self-styled gau rakshaks he was a Hindu. Five other Muslims who were transporting cows and calves in two trucks, including one driven by Yadav, were beaten up on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1.

JAIPUR: Police are yet to speak to the truck driver who survived a deadly attack by cow vigilantes in Alwar earlier this month, despite being a key witness to the assault that left a Muslim man dead and the country outraged.

Arjun Kumar Yadav, 23, says he managed to escape the attack only after he told the self-styled gau rakshaks he was a Hindu. Five other Muslims who were transporting cows and calves in two trucks, including one driven by Yadav, were beaten up on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1. One of them, Pehlu Khan, died in a hospital two days later.

Yadav told HT that the Rajasthan police were yet to speak to him. “No one has recorded my statement,” he said.

Parmal Singh, the deputy superintendent of police investigating the case, however, refused to acknowledge Yadav’s importance as a witness in the case.

“Who told you that there was this driver called Arjun? From where have you found his name? Is there any person who has said that he was witness to the events that day? If you know any such person then I urge you to ask him to go to the police station and we will record his statement,” Singh told HT.

Asked if Yadav would be called to the police station as a witness, Singh said he wouldn’t disclose anything at this stage.

“It is a matter of investigation who were driving the trucks and we won’t be able to speak about it to the media,” he added.

The police in BJP-ruled Rajasthan are already under fire for not acting with alacrity in bringing the culprits to book.

They have not arrested any of the six people named by Khan before his death.

Khan had also told the police that the attackers were from the VHP and Bajrang Dal, two RSSlinked outfits. Rajasthan home minister Gulab Singh Kataria also caused outrage when he appeared to shift the blame for the assault, saying those transporting the cattle were beaten up for not carrying valid permits.

Alwar superintendent of police Rahul Prakash said they were raiding various places to nab the six people named by Khan, but added that they will only be detained for interrogation.

“We will arrest them only after we are sure that they were involved in the crime,” he told HT.