Police Failed To Nail Lynching Accused

Alwar sessions court cited ‘serious lacunae’ in Pehlu Khan case investigation

Two chargesheets leaving out important evidence in the Pehlu Khan lynching case, flaws in the police investigation, failure of the police to get a forensic test of the mobile phone used for shooting a video of the incident and the witnesses not being given an opportunity to identify the culprits during the probe, led to the acquittal of six persons accused of beating the Haryana dairy farmer to death two years ago.

The Alwar sessions court, which let off the six accused on Wednesday, has pointed out “serious lacunae” in the police investigation which created doubts about the involvement of the suspects in the alleged crime, making the prosecution’s theory unreliable. The court gave the benefit of the doubt to the accused and absolved all of them of the offences of murder, rioting and unlawful assembly.