Hoped to get 'justice' from Cong government, says Pehlu Khan's son Irsad

As the controversy continues to rage over whether Pehlu Khan was charge-sheeted or not, his son Irsad Khan on Saturday said that he was hoping to get justice from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot led Congress government in Rajasthan.

"We had a hope from the Congress government that they will help us in getting justice but all our struggle went in vain," Irsad said, while adding that "we have heard from lawyers that a charge sheet has been filed against my father and five others -- Azmat, Rafiq, Arif, Irsad and Khan Mohammad."

"We were hoping that we will get justice now. They killed our father in front of our eyes but now they are torturing us as some of us are the eye-witnesses in the case," he said.

Chief Minister Gehlot on Saturday, however, said Pehlu Khan's name does not appear in the charge sheet submitted by the state police in December 2018.

"News reported in Indian Express is factually incorrect. Name of Late #Pehlu Khan is not there in the charge sheet submitted by #Rajasthan Police in December 2018," Gehlot wrote on his official Twitter handle.

"The Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of lynching anywhere in the country and our government is vigilant to ensure it will not have happened again," read another tweet by Gehlot.

Talking about the investigation in the case, Irsad said that he was not satisfied with the probe going on in the case.

"We were coming back from Jaipur with cows. We had valid papers with us but the cow vigilantes did not listen to us and tore the documents. Now, after two and a half years, they have filed a charge sheet against us. They released six accused, who were named by my father. How can we be satisfied with the investigation," he asked.

It is worth noting that Pehlu Khan, 55, was lynched to death in 2017 allegedly by cow vigilantes near Behror in Rajasthan on Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1. Khan was accused of smuggling cattle. He succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on April 3.

Social activist Arif said: "It was a case which caught the attention of the international media. We had hoped for justice from the newly-formed Congress government in the state. Now we have realised that it is also following the path of the previous government."

Echoing similar sentiments, eye-witness Azam said: "The charge sheet has been filed against us after we gave statement against the accused in the case. We were attacked, looted, and one of us was killed. The charge sheet also filed against us. We are living in fear."

Chief Minister Gehlot has said the "Congress party is ideologically committed against any kind of lynching anywhere in the country and our government is vigilant to ensure it will not have happened again."

He said that his government would see if the investigation in the past was done with any "predetermined intentions."

It was claimed earlier that the state police charge-sheeted Khan and his sons - Irsad, 25, and Arif, 22, under various sections of the Rajasthan Bovine mal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

The purported charge sheet against Khan was prepared on December 30 last year, which was thirteen days after the Congress came to power in the state under the chief ministership of Gehlot in the state.

The police had earlier given a clean chit to the six people accused of lynching Khan. The decision was based on the statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records.

( With inputs from ANI )