Pehlu Khan case: More than two years after Haryana dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was lynched by a mob in Alwar on suspicion of cattle smuggling, the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday ordered quashing of a cow-smuggling case registered against him and his two sons.

The police had in May this year filed a chargesheet against Pehlu Khan his sons Irshad and Aarif and the driver of the vehicle carrying cattle when the incident occurred.

A court in Alwar had acquitted all the six accused in the case in August citing ‘benefit of doubt’. The court, however, raised serious questions over investigation carried out by the local police. The court said that the probe had ‘serious shortcomings’.

Alwar lynching: Rajasthan court acquits all 6 accused of beating Pehlu Khan to death in 2017

Pehlu Khan, a 55-year-old native of Haryana’s Nuh, had left his village to purchase cattle in order to increase milk produce for Ramzan. Surrounded by a mob of cow vigilantes on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1, 2017, he tried to save himself by showing his purchase receipts, but was lynched with rods and sticks. Khan succumbed to his injuries on April 3.

The incident had then triggered a nation-wide outrage with the Opposition targeting the Modi government over rising cases of mob lynching in the country.