Pehlu probe handed over to CID-CB, son says no hope

Each day is an ordeal for Irshad as he tries to ensure justice for his 55-year-old father who was lynched by an angry mob of gaurakshaks three months back.

He is the son of Pehlu Khan, a name synonymous with the recent spate of violence in the country perpetrated in the name of cow protection.

For the past several months, all Irshad has done is making numerous trips between his home state of Haryana and Rajasthan, meeting different police officials who then send him to other men-in-khaki.

Slowly, despair chips away at the little hope that he has, to see the killers of his father punished. That’s why, all that Khan could do is to lament, upon hearing that yet again, the investigating officer in the case has been changed, for the fourth time in three months. “We never wanted the case to be transferred to the CID-CB as we don’t believe that a fair investigation could happen. In the last three months only the investigating officers have been changed in the case,” Irshad told HT on Friday.

His ruing results from the fact that the case has been transferred to the criminal investigation department- crime branch (CID-CB) of the Rajasthan police. This is the fourth instance in a little more than three months when the investigating officer has been changed.

Additional director general of police, crime, Pankaj Kumar Singh confirmed to HT that the case will now be investigated by the CID-CB.

“Not even a single person named in the FIR has been arrested and the investigation is long pending.

All that the police have done in the last three months is changing the investigating officer of the case. We don’t believe that we will get justice this way,” said Irshad.

Khan was assaulted while he was transporting cattle that he had purchased from a market in Jaipur for dairy farming purpose in his native village of Jaisinghpur in Haryana. After the attack took place on April 1, the case was initially being investigated by the station house officer, Behror police station.

Following the nation-wide outrage and condemnation over the attack, the case was once again handed over to the deputy superintendent of police (Behror).

We never wanted the case to be transferred to the CIDCB... In last three months only of investigating officers have changed IRSHAD, Pehlu Khan’s son