Two years following the lynching of Pehlu Khan, Rajasthan court on Wednesday acquitted all six accused in the case.
According to media reports, the six accused men were cleared on the grounds of ‘benefit of doubt’.
Additional District Judge in Alwar pronounced the verdict.
Of all the nine accused in the case, three were underage and are out on bail.
55-year-old Khan, a native of Nuh in Haryana, was allegedly lynched by a mob of “gau rakshaks” near Behror in Rajasthan on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1, 2017, accusing him and his and his two sons, Irshad (25) and Arif (22) of smuggling cattle.
Khan succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on April 3.
The brutal lynching of Khan was caught on camera, had evoked nationwide protests against the activities of cow vigilantes.
Based on video evidence, police charged them under Sections 147, 323, 341, 302, 308, 379 and 427 of the IPC.
Interestingly, the Rajasthan police had earlier given a clean chit to the six of the seven accused of lynching Khan, a dairy farmer.
The police’s decision was reportedly based on statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records.