Exactly a year after a mob stormed into Mohammed Akhlaq’s home in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, and beat him to death on suspicion of eating beef, a report published in The Hindu yesterday has raised new questions.

On July 15, 2016, following a court order, the Bishada Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Akhlaq and his family — his younger brother Jan Mohammad and his daughter-in-law — under the UP Cow Slaughter Act, 1955, for allegedly slaughtering a calf.

The report by Mohammed Ali states that officials investigating the case have arrived at the conclusion that there is no evidence to prove a cow was ever killed by the deceased or his family. According to “highly placed sources in the UP police”, the investigation has yet to “yield any proof.” Ali quoted Anurag Singh, Circle Officer of the area, who said “there is no credible evidence in this case.” Without evidence, charges cannot be formulated.

According to the state’s Cow Slaughter act, “No person shall slaughter or cause to be slaughtered, or offer or cause to be offered for slaughter, a cow, bull or bullock in any place in Uttar Pradesh.” Anurag told The Hindu that there was little to prove the slaughter had taken place. “But there is no knife in this case and neither was there any carcass or meat seized from the spot of the crime,” he is quoted to have said. A forensic report prepared by the University of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Mathura, said that the meat seized from Akhlaq’s home “was of a cow or its progeny.” This contradicts a report from the UP Veterinary department released in December 2015, which claimed that the meat came from a goat.

However, last night, on Twitter, Noida Police posted this:

When contacted by Newslaundry, Abhishek Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida, said the investigation was far from over. “Anyone from the police has not made any statement. The investigation is still on, and we cannot comment on it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dharmendra Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said that Anurag had been transferred to Agra Range and “therefore, his statement has no validity. He is no more monitoring the investigation. As of now, we have not drawn any conclusions in the case, regarding the outcome of the investigation.”

Ali told Newslaundry that Anurag’s statements were made while he was still the Circle Officer in Dadri.

Anurag confirmed his transfer and did not want to comment further on the case. However, in another conversation with the news agency PTI, Anurag appears to be backtracking from his statement to The Hindu. He was quoted as saying,“I had told media that so far we have no credible evidence of cow slaughter by Akhlaq’s brother so we cannot arrest him yet. Regarding the filing of closure report I had only said that this is last step (to take) if we do not get any evidence.”

An official attached to the office of the UP Director General of Police (DGP) told Newslaundry on condition of anonymity, that the DGP went into damage control mode following The Hindu’s report. “This case is becoming a matter of embarrassment for UP cops. The same police that filed a case against the deceased Akhlaq and his family, is now finding it difficult to prove the allegations,” he said. “I cannot comment on the merit of the report [in The Hindu], but as of now, the investigation has failed to make any breakthrough.”

Take the initial statements and place it alongside the tweet and the damning report, and it would appear that the police are trying to downplay an embarrassing disclosure made by one of their own. With so much confusion, it is unclear if charges can be filed against Akhlaq’s family. In a case as high profile as this one, if even a chargesheet can’t be filed, there’s going to be a whole lot of embarrassment going around in UP Police.