Alwar, July 23: Cops in Alwar came under sharp criticism on Sunday when it was revealed that they first sent cows to a Gaushala (cow shelter) and then brought Rakbar Khan, who was allegedly lynched by cow vigilantes on Friday night, to the nearest hospital. The Alwar police struggled to explain why it took them more than 3 hours to travel 6km while taking Khan to hospital.

The police reportedly arranged a tempo for cows recoevred from Akbar Khan and his friend. According to Raghuvar, the caretaker of the Jain Sudha Sagar Gaushala, the animals were brought in at 3:00 am. Interetingly, Khan who was critically injured brought at the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Ramgarh at 4:00 am. The CHC was just 6km away from the attack site.

Speaking to a newspaper, Dr Hasan Ali, who was the duty officer at the CHC, confirmed that Khan was brought dead at 4:00 am. The police on Sunday claimed that the delay was caused because they had to find the place in Lalawandi village where Khan was lying injured. However, this contradicts the version of gau rakshak Naval Kishore Sharma.

According to Sharma, he not only informed the police about the 'action', but also guided them to the spot. The FIR registered by assistant sub-inspector Mohan Singh also said that the police were alerted about the attack at 12:41 am and a team reached the lynching spot within 15-20 minutes. Rajendra Singh, SP Alwar, also that it had been brought to his notice that there was allegedly a delay in taking Khan to the CHC, reported TOI.

Khan's killing came four days after the central and state governments came under a sharp criticism from the Supreme Court over frequent lynching incidents. The Supreme Court also asked Parliament to come up with a law to tackle cow vigilantism and lynch, calling such incidents "horrendous acts of mobocracy" that should be nipped in the bud.

It is the third such incident in Alwar since April last year when dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was beaten to death by a mob. Another man, Umar Mohammed, 35, also a dairy farmer was found dead near the railway tracks in Alwar in November 2017. He was also allegedly killed by vigilantes when he was transporting cows to his home in Pahari tehsil of the district.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 23, 2018 08:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).