Naval Kishore Sharma, who is also part of a cow protection organisation, says that Rakbar's clothes were changed by the police and he was alive at that time. He says that Rajasthan police later beat Khan to death in police custody. Sharma also said that an ASI in charge was also present when the incident happened.
As per reports, Naval Sharma was the man who had called Rajasthan police after the incident occurred.
Rakbar was killed just a day after the issue of mob lynching was raised in Lok Sabha during the debate on the no-confidence motion. PM Modi had condemned mob lynching and had urged all the state governments to take strict action against the culprits. Barely a week before that, the Supreme Court urged Parliament to enact a law against lynching.
On Sunday, a third arrest was made in the case which was handed over to an additional SP-rank officer for investigation. "Naresh Singh, a resident of Lalawandi village, was arrested today. Police are on the lookout for another accused," SHO, Ramgarh Police Station, Subhash Sharma said. Earlier, two persons were nabbed by police.
Rakbar Khan and his friend Aslam were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forested area near Lalawandi in Alwar district on Friday when five men attacked them. They suspected that Khan was smuggling cows but the allegation is yet to be verified.
Aslam, who had a narrow escape told ANI, "We (him and the deceased )both were going with our two cows, on seeing a speeding bike the cows ran into the fields where 6-7 people were present who fired at us, I ran away from the spot to save my life, later found that my friend was killed."
Inspector General (Jaipur range) Hemant Priyadarshy said an impartial investigation would be carried out. No culprit would be spared nor would any innocent be framed, he added to the additional SP-rank officer.
In a similar incident last year, Pehlu Khan (55) was lynched by suspected cow vigilantes in Alwar while he was transporting cattle. He died while undergoing treatment at a hospital two days later.