Alwar: ASI ‘admits’ to delay, suspended

Jaipur, July 23

The Rajasthan Police on Monday suspended an Assistant Sub-Inspector and sent three constables to Police Lines for “delay” in taking Rakbar, alias Akbar Khan, who was allegedly lynched by a mob on suspicion of cow smuggling, to a hospital, officials said.

The action came after a video showing ASI Mohan Singh (posted at the Ramgarh police station) admitting to his “mistake” went viral. 

A five-member committee to look into the delay in taking Khan to the hospital, suspended the ASI and shifted three other constables to Police Lines, Special DGP (Law and Order) NRK Reddy said in Alwar.

“There was an error in judgment while responding to the situation. The preliminary investigation suggested there was an error in prioritising the situation,” Reddy said.

The inquiry is in addition to the overall probe that has been assigned to an Additional SP-rank officer.

While two persons, Dharmendra Yadav and Paramjeet Singh, were arrested on Saturday, a third accused, Naresh Singh, was nabbed on Sunday and they are in five-day police custody. “There are charges that the police had beaten up Khan and delayed taking him to hospital, which are being looked into,” the SP (Alwar) said. The ASI’s video surfaced hours after charges that the police delayed by three hours the shifting of Khan to the Ramgarh community healthcare centre. 

The incident was reported to the police at 12.41 am on Saturday. The police reached there at 1.15 am, but they reached the hospital (4 km away from crime scene) with Khan at 4 am, where he was declared “brought dead”. — TNS/PTI