Police file chargesheet against lynching victim Pehlu Khan's sons, truck operator

Two years after Haryana resident Pehlu Khan was lynched by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan's Alwar district, police here have filed a charge sheet against his two sons and a truck operator for illegally transporting cattle. The issue triggered a row with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi charging that the Congress in power was the "replica of the BJP".

Owaisi was reacting to earlier reports that Pehlu Khan was also chargesheeted. Although the case goes back to April 2017 when the BJP was in power in the state, the charge sheet is being filed months after the Congress took over.

"The charge sheet was accepted by the court on May 24 against three persons under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act. Since Pehlu Khan had died, he has not been chargesheeted," Alwar Superintendent of Police Anil Paris Deshmukh told PTI. However, Pehlu Khan's name was mentioned in the summary of the charge sheet.

Police maintained that the case against Pehlu Khan, his sons Irshad Khan (25) Aarif Khan (22) and truck operator Khan Mohammad stood proved in the investigation. They were charged under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

Pehlu Khan and his sons were thrashed by a mob on the suspicion of cow smuggling in Alwar's Behror on April 1, 2017. Pehlu Khan died at a hospital in Alwar on April 3.