See he was fine: Snap of mob victim in police car; so, when did he die?

A photograph of Rakbar Khan - the man who died in Alwar, allegedly after being thrashed by cow vigilantes – has turned the spotlight on the role of the police in the matter.

The photograph shows him sitting upright inside a police car, which suggests that he was fine after his arrest and before he was taken to the police station -- the last stop before he was taken to the hospital at 4 am.

According to NDTV, the photo was circulated by one Naval Kishore, the man who had placed a call to the police about the attack and accompanied them for most part of their three-hour journey through the area before Rakbar Khan was taken to the hospital -- dead.

A doctor at the hospital told the TV channel that the postmortem report shows he died of internal bleeding after a severe beating. Rakbar's brother said even his neck was broken. A woman witness, Maya, told the TV channel that she saw the police "beating the man in the vehicle and abusing him".

Kishore parted company with the police after they had tea midway. At 4 am, Khan was taken to a local hospital -- a journey that should have taken no more than 20 minutes after he was rescued from the mob at Alwar's Lallanwadi village around 1 am.

Action has been taken against three policemen but, it seems, their role is not just confined to delay in ferrying Khan to hospital.