The victim's kin blame a right-wing organisation for the 'murder' and exonerate the police while a person who accompanied Rakbar Khan in the fateful night cannot identify the assailants. A television channel has interviewed an 'eyewitness' who claims the villagers had handed over Rakbar with a little leg injury to the police while the post-mortem report says he died of shocks received from the injury!
On July 21, news agencies reported that Rakbar Khan, 28, and another man were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forest area near Lalawandi in Alwar district in the night of July 20 when a group of people severely thrashed Khan. However, when MyNation reached the affected area, the kin and friends of the victim gave mutually contradictory statements.
First, the kin and neighbours of the victim told MyNation they did not believe the police had killed Rakbar Khan.
Rakbar's brother Akbar Khan blamed a right-wing organisation for the death.
Akbar's version is more or less like that of Haji Akhtar, the brother of Aslam who survived the alleged assault.
However, one of the companions of Rakbar Khan had no idea how his friend died.
The companion said they always herded cows during nights because the cattle tend to stray in broad daylight, distracted by commotions all around.
The companion said that the cows they were taking along lost the way, despite their precautions, and entered a field. Rakbar followed — to bring the cattle back on the road. Then the cowherds heard some bullet shots, but they couldn't tell who attacked Rakbar Khan.
Some photographs of the victim have been circulating in mainstream and social media alike. These snaps suggest Rakbar Khan was injured, but the injury does not look fatal.
Curiously, an eyewitness account, which India Today has reported, is not part of the larger media narrative: That Rakbar Khan was alive and all right till the stage where he was brought to the local police station!
Meanwhile, the post-mortem report of the victim has arrived. Rakbar Khan died of shock caused by his injuries, the report says.
A three-member medical board, comprising Dr Sanjay Gupta, Dr Amit Mittal and Dr Rajiv Gupta of the General Hospital of Alwar, which conducted the post-mortem, said, "The cause of death, in this case, is a shock as a result of injuries sustained over the body."
The police have arrested three people suspected to be involved in the attack on Khan. And a four-member committee of the Rajasthan Police that is probing all allegations ordered the suspension of the then assistant sub-inspector posted at the Ramgarh police station, Mohan Singh, and transferred three others to police lines.
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