WHAT COPS SAY: ‘DIDN’T TOUCH KHAN; WAS NOT AT THE SPOT’

At least two policemen, part of the team accused of allegedly beating Rakbar Khan, who had already been brutally thrashed by cow vigilantes, leading to his death, have claimed innocence with one of them saying that he “didn’t even touch” the victim and other saying he was not present at the spot.

This comes on a day when Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria said that evidence in Khan’s case suggested “it was a custodial death” and ordered a judicial probe into the incident that took place July 21-22 night.

Naval Kishore Sharma, a cattle rearer with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and an eyewitness to the incident had alleged that policemen took Khan to police station first where “they beat him up leading to his death”. Khan was later taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Constable Harendra Singh, one of the three sent to police lines, rubbished the charges. “I didn’t even touch him (Khan). Reality is that the two accused — Dharmendra Yadav and Paramjeet Singh— had dragged Khan through the wet fields. He was roughed up and covered in mud. We arranged for water to clean him. After that we started inquiring about the situation and then took him to the hospital. I don’t remember the exact time that we reached the hospital,” he said.

Singh, who was driving the PCR Van, instead questioned the motive of Naval Kishore, who, incidentally, was the first to inform the police about attack on the two alleged cow smugglers.

“I don’t understand why Nawal Kishore is coming out with different stories. On one hand, he says that he reached the police station directly from the gaushala and on the other he claimed that we all stopped at Ramgarh around 3 am. The reality is that Nawal Kishore had reached the spot directly. He didn’t come with us,” Singh said.

He said that Naval Kishore “is doing this to save the two accused” because “they are the members of the same self-proclaimed cow protection group”.

The other constable, Surendra Singh Yadav, too termed the allegations against him as false. “I was not even present at the spot. At the time of the incident, I was on patrolling duty. I don’t know on what basis my name has been mentioned in the FIR. All the allegations are false.”

Nawal Kishore, however, stuck to his version saying that he was only speaking the truth. Police had earlier said that a team was rushed to the scene around 1 am when they were informed that vigilantes were beating up Khan.

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