Four persons, including a 50-year-old Delhi government employee, were arrested by the Haryana Railway Police on Wednesday in connection with the stabbing of a Muslim teenager on a Delhi-Mathura local train, an incident that has led to nation-wide outrage.
Fifteen-year-old Junaid was stabbed to death while his brothers Hasib and Shakir were abused and beaten by a mob between Okhla and Ballabgarh railway stations last week.
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‘Man started argument’
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“The 50-year-old man boarded the train at Okhla and was the one who started the argument with Junaid and his brothers over a seat. He also hurled religious slurs at them,” said Superintendent of Police (Haryana Railway Police) Kamal Deep Goyal
“A few more people in the train then took the man’s side, and slapped and manhandled Junaid and his brothers,” he added.
The three others arrested are in their late 20s and had boarded the train at New Town and Ballabgarh railway stations. The trio works with separate companies in Ballabgarh. All four accused belong to Hodal village in Palwal district, Haryana.
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The police said that with the fresh arrests, the total number of accused persons held in the case has risen to five — Ramesh Kumar was arrested a day after the incident.
Prime accsued
The police, however, said on Wednesday that Kumar was no longer the prime accused in the case as Hasib had identified him as being part of the mob but denied that he had stabbed Junaid.
“We earlier suspected that Kumar stabbed Junaid, but investigation has revealed that he did not wield the knife. But he was part of the scuffle. We have recovered his blood-stained knife as evidence of his involvement,” said Mr. Goyal.
The police said the four accused, who will be produced in a court in Faridabad on Thursday, had provided vital details about the prime accused.
CCTV footage from various points in the vicinity of the crime is being scanned to obtain clues about the remaining accused.