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Jaipur : Even as Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria on Tuesday promised strict action in the Alwar lynching case, his colleague and state Labour Minister Jaswant Singh asked Muslims and the Mev community to “stop consuming beef’ and “keep away from cow smugglers to respect the Hindus.”

“We will ensure punishment to the guilty,” home minister Kataria said while inspecting the site at Ramgarh (Alwar) where Rakbar alias Akabar was lynched by a mob over cow smuggling on Saturday night. Kataria was accompanied by Director General of Police OP Galhotra.

Earlier, Labour Minister Jaswant Singh, who was also in Alwar, said: “These incidents (of violence) are almost a daily occurrence,” adding that since the “root cause” is cow smuggling, “the Muslims should avoid eating beef and not support cow smugglers.”

Kataria met Chief Secretary DB Gupta, DGP Galhotra and special Director General (Law and Order) NRK Reddy to review the situation following the lynching incident. He said that a few lapses have come to the fore on police’s part and an assistant sub-inspector has been suspended. “Action has also been taken against four constables. We will take right action,” he said.

The post-mortem of Rakbar has confirmed that he died due to multiple internal injuries sustained from severe beating, sources said.

Amid a charged atmosphere in Alwar, district Shiv Sena chief Bhupendra Singh Naruka said his party supported the ‘innocents’ caught by the police and would fight their case in the court “on its expenses.” He also questioned BJP on its delay to declare cow as a “national animal” of the country.

Meanwhile BJP legislator from Ramgarh (Alwar) Gyandev Ahuja on Tuesday said that Rakbar had died in police custody and not by a mob. He also said that action taken against four policemen on Monday was to “shield” senior police officers. He also demanded a judicial probe into this matter.

The Rajasthan police late on Monday accepted “error of judgement” by its personnel which delayed the victim’s arrival to the hospital. Rakbar was declared brought dead in the hospital.

—IANS