Release Alwar lynching accused or face the music, VHP warns Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje

JAIPUR: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members on Wednesday threatened to disrupt Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s Gaurav Yatra if the three men arrested by the Alwar police for lynching Rakbar Khan are not released.

VHP’s Alwar district president, Keshav Chandra Sharma, claimed that the three youth arrested for lynching Rakbar are innocent while asserting that Khan had died in police custody.

“On an average, 10 cows are slaughtered daily and police are not able to do anything about it. The government should also take steps to end the rampant cow slaughter in the region. If our demands are not met, all Hindus will oppose the yatra when it enters Alwar,” Sharma said.

Another VHP leader Subhash Agarwal said: “What gaurav (pride) is Raje talking about when cows, which are revered by the Hindus, are being slaughtered on a daily basis?”

Last month, Rakbar Khan alias Akbar was attacked by cow vigilantes in Alwar’s Ramgarh town on suspicion of cow smuggling while he was returning to his village along with an accomplice.

He was allegedly transporting cows from Alwar to his home at Nooh village in Haryana .Three suspects were arrested and one police officer was suspended. Further, a judicial enquiry was ordered in the killing of Rakbar. The police allegedly took nearly four hours in taking Akbar to the hospital before which they took the cows to a shelter first. Akbar was declared dead on reaching the hospital.

Problems over the police apathy have compounded for the BJP as their own MLA from Alwar, Gyaandev Ahuja has been repeatedly asking the government to release the gaurakshaks who he claims are innocent. He also says that Akbar died of police beating in the police station and not because of thrashing by 'gaurakshaks' ; he has also said that cow slaughtering is bigger crime than terrorism and he will support the groups who are agitating to release gaurakshaks.