Alwar: Suleman Khan looked wistfully at the body of his son Rakbar Khan being taken out of the mortuary on Saturday; a scene all too common for many Meo Muslims who gather here whenever a youth from their community is killed on suspicion of cow smugglingProdded by his brother and other villagers from Kolgaon in Haryana who had come here at Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital for the post-mortem, he struggled to stand straight as his son’s body, covered in a white cloth was being put inside a vehicle. “He was tortured, why? Did it not occur to them that he was also somebody’s son, father, husband?’’ he sobbed.A grieving Suleman hunched a bit forward, as the vehicle carrying his son’s body left the hospital. “Our family also has four milking cows, why we are being branded as smugglers?,” he said, covering his face with his hands.A father of seven kids, including four daughters, Rakbar was seen as an enterprising man, who worked as a labourer at mines in Mewat, and also dealt in goat trading. “He was a very hard working man who worked at dumper trucks too,” said Suleman.Rakbar's youngest daughter is one year old, “Now who will take the responsibility? I want to know why did police hide his death to us for hours?” he said, adding that the cops informed them only after 5 am.Amin Khan, sarpnach of Tappan village from where Rakbar’s wife belongs, said that about a few months ago Rakbar had come to his village and worked on dumpers carrying stones. "A person like him will never indulge in cow smuggling,” he said,The family said that their village has over 2,000 cows. "We know the value of a cow better than anybody, for centuries our generations have been cattle farmers,” said Rakbar's relative.Suleman and Meo leaders initially refused to send body for the post-mortem but agreed as the police assured them that four people have been named and two have been arrested. Angered and hurt by repeated incidents of killings by alleged cow vigilantes, the latest killing had left an open wound for many in Mewat.“First there was Pehlu Khan, then Ummar Khan, Talim and now Rakbar. Many of us have now even lost the count of those were injured,” said Jamsheed Khan, sarpanch of a local village.

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