The police have arrested third accused in connection with the murder of a man beaten to death on suspicion of smuggling cows in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
The fresh arrest was made today and the accused has been identified as Naresh Sharma. On Saturday, the police arrested two men - Dharmendra Yadav and Paramjeet Singh Sardar.
The incident took place on Friday when Akram Khan and another man were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forest area near Lalawandi in Alwar district, when a group of people severely thrashed Khan.
"We (He and Akram) both were going with our two cows, on seeing a speeding bike the cows ran into the fields where 6-7 people were present who fired at us, I ran away from the spot to save my life, later found that my friend was killed," Aslam, who had a narrow escape, told ANI.
According to NDTV report, Akram was in police custody for nearly four hours before he was taken to a hospital.
A right-wing supporter who made the call to police told a news channel that the police took the seized cows to a shelter, visited the police station and even stopped for tea, before taking the man to hospital.
Akram had succumbed to injuries before he could be admitted to the hospital. "As the injured man complained of pain, the policemen ordered tea from a nearby stall and waited for the vehicle carrying the cows," he said.
BJP MLA from Rajasthan, GD Ahuja has demanded a judicial inquiry to ascertain whether Akram Khan, the Alwar man who was beaten to death, allegedly by gau rakshaks, was actually killed by them or by the police while in custody. In the statement, he even called Khan a smuggler.
Akram's killing has destroyed the world of his family including his seven children whose responsibility now lies with his wife Asamina. The children did not know that their goodbye to father while leaving home would be for the last time.
Akram's elder daughter Sahila is 14-years-old, and the youngest daughter Ashera is 2-years-old.
"The goons should be sentenced to death. What is the harm in bringing milk cow? Our world is completely destroyed after Akram's death," said the deceased wife Asamina.
"We want justice. The culprits should be arrested soon," said the victim's father Suleman.
Meanwhile, the Centre is considering the possibility of amending the Indian Penal Code to define 'mob lynching' as a penal offence, a senior government functionary told PTI.
Another option being considered is to draft a model law that states can adopt to prevent incidents of mob lynching, he said.
Condemning the rising incidents of lynching in India, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday asked the government to enact a law to deal such cases. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had termed the incidents of lynching "horrendous acts of mobocracy".
The incident comes a little more than a year after Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Haryana's Mewat, was lynched by cow vigilantes in Alwar. He was attacked when he was transporting cattle to his village in Haryana as the mob suspected him of smuggling cows.
On July 1, a mob had lynched five tribals in Reinpada village in Maharashtra's Dhule after rumours on social media about the possibility of child lifters in the area.
