GURGAON: The Haryana Police have arrested four people in relation to the brutal killing of a 16-year old Muslim boy by a mob inside a train in Ballabhgarh. The accused include two Delhi government employees, a 31 year old health department inspector and a 50 year old Delhi Jal Board official. Police sources said the two had hurled communal abuses and instigated people against victim, Junaid Khan and his three brothers.
Haryana DGP BS Sandhu said, “The case stands solved and we are taking measures to ensure that the other accused are arrested at the earliest.” Authorities said the man who had stabbed the teenager is yet to be arrested even though he has been identified from CCTV footage recovered from Asaoti railway station. The other two arrested are youths in their 20s working in a private company in south Delhi. Kamaldeep Goel, superintendent of police, GRP, Ambala Cantt, said, “We will not reveal the names of the accused at present since they would have to undergo a test identification parade before the family members of the deceased. We zeroes in on the four after an intensive manhunt with the support of technical investigation, intelligence reports and other inputs. The technical investigations established their presence at the spot. The accused have confessed to their involvement in the violence.”
The 16 year old victim, his brother Haseeb and their two cousins were travelling back to their village in Haryana's Ballabhgarh, from Delhi after their Eid shopping when they were attacked with knives. The teenager was later thrown off the train at Asaoti. The fight that erupted over seats got bigger because the boys looked “different,” Haseeb told the police. Religious slurs were yelled at them, his skull cap was pulled off his head, his beard was pulled and they were called “beef eaters” and “anti-national.”
Since the train was crowded, the food inspector walked up to the teens who were sitting and playing a board game, asking them to make space for him and his friend to sit too. Junaid offered his seat to the 50 year old, a gesture that somehow angered him and began hurling communal abuses. The scuffle began when the boys protested. The accused said a youth who was standing behind them suddenly jumped in and started thrashing Junaid, after which the other two accused also joined the fight.
