Jaipur: Four
key witnesses of the Pehlu Khan lynching case, including his two sons,
Irshad and Aarif, were allegedly fired upon on Saturday morning, while
they were on their way to a court in Behror to submit their testimony.
Unknown men in a black SUV, without a number plate, began pursuing their car near Neemrana and open fired at them.
“As
we crossed Neemrana, a black Scorpio started following us and tried to
stop us. When we didn’t stop, they fired at us. We somehow managed to
escape that route and came to Alwar to report,” Azmat, one of the
witnesses who was also present in the car during the incident, told The Wire.
However, Alwar police are clueless about the incident.
“Apart
from media accounts, we haven’t received any report about this incident
so far. We will definitely proceed as and when it will be reported to
us,” said Rajendra Singh, superintendent of police, Alwar.
In
its hearing last month, the court had framed charges against the
accused under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful
restraint), 308 (culpable homicide) and 302 (murder), paving the way for
the prosecution to present evidence to prove the guilt of the accused.
The four witnesses – Irshad, Aarif, Rafiqe and Azmat – were summoned by
the magistrate to submit their statements on September 29.
Kassim Khan, advocate for Pehlu Khan’s son, told The Wire,
“Today, the witnesses were supposed to record their statement in the
court. They were attacked on their way. It was an attempt to threaten
them so that they don’t speak up.” [. . .]
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