Class 12 boy held in connection with Alwar lynching

During preliminary investigation, we learnt that he (the minor accused) was passing through the area and saw the crowd beating up Khan and he joined the mob. PARMAL SINGH, Behror circle officer

ALWAR/JAIPUR: The Alwar police have detained a 17-year-old boy for allegedly being part of the mob that assaulted Pehlu Khan on April 1, which resulted in the 55-year-old dairy farmer’s death.

According to the police, the accused was identified on the basis of a video of the lynching which had gone viral on the social media .

“We detained the accused on Tuesday from his village, Dheekwal. We have learnt that following the attack, the boy had gone into hiding and was evading the police,” said Parmal Singh, circle officer, Behror and the investigating officer in the case.

“In the video, the accused, who is a student of Class 12, can be clearly seen assaulting Khan. During the preliminary investigation, we learnt that he was passing through the area and saw the crowd beating up Khan and he joined the mob,” said Singh.

The police said that the juvenile accused has been sent to a government observational and child home in Alwar.

Khan and four other Muslims were attacked in Alwar district by alleged gau rakshaks when they were transporting cows and calves in two trucks cows bought from a Jaipur cattle market.

Khan, who died of his injuries two days later in a hospital, had told police that they had been assaulted by a group of men even though they had a permit to transport the animals.

Police registered a case of culpable homicide against six named and 200 unnamed accused of lynching the five men.

On April 3, when Khan passed away in the hospital, the section of culpable homicide was replaced with the section for murder (302 of the IPC).

On April 5, police arrested three people – Vipin Yadav, Ravindra Yadav and Kalu Ram Yadav – on the basis of the video footage circulating on social media. Two more people – Dayanand Yadav and Neeraj Yadav – were arrested on April 9. On April 21, the police nabbed Yogesh Khati (30), the sixth person to be arrested in the case.

However, none of these arrested men were named in Khan’s FIR. The six named accused are still absconding.