A senior advocate appointed as the special public prosecutor in the Rakbar Khan lynching case on Tuesday claimed that the Rajasthan government was not interested in contesting the case.

Khan, a resident of Haryana, was attacked by a mob on suspicion of cow smuggling in Rajasthan in 2018. He died of his injuries while in police custody.

Mohan Singh, an assistant sub-inspector, had at the time admitted that there had been a delay in taking Khan to hospital. He was suspended and three other personnel were transferred.

Nasir Ali Naqvi, the special public prosecutor in the case, said in a letter to the Alwar superintendent of police that his fee and conveyance bills have been pending for a long time. He said that he was not paid his fee despite repeated requests, The Indian Express reported.

Naqvi said that the prosecution’s arguments in the trial have concluded and that the case is now at its fag end. He said that it would not be possible for him to travel to Alwar to pursue his pending bills once the case is over.

“I also reveal that the government is not interested to contest the case,” he said in the letter, which was also marked to the Alwar collector and state officials. “In such eventuality, I am not able to appear in the case in future.”

Naqvi told Scroll that the administration did not appoint any responsible officer to remain in contact with him in connection with the case. However, he added that after he sent the letter, the district administration reached out to him and said it will look into the matter.

Naqvi was appointed as the special public prosecutor in 2021 after Rakbar Khan’s 73-year-old mother Habiban and Aslam Khan, a key witness in the case, had told Alwar’s District and Sessions court that the presiding officer in the case was in favour of the accused. “The accused tell us that they have ‘managed’ the presiding officer and now the judgement will be in their favour,” the application had alleged, according to The Indian Express.