Delhi govt employee, three others held

A 50-year-old Delhi government employee was among four persons arrested on Wednesday in connection with the killing of a Muslim youth onboard a Mathura-bound train, the police said.

With these arrests the number of those held in the case, which triggered nation-wide outrage, has reached five but the "prime accused" is still at large, they added.

"We have arrested four more persons, including three youths, aged between 24 and 30 years and a 50-year-old man," Kamaldeep Goel, the Superintendent of Police (SP), Government Railway Police (GRP), Faridabad said.

The 50-year-old arrested on Wednesday is a Delhi government employee while the three others were doing some private jobs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), GRP, Faridabad, Mohinder Singh said.

The accused persons belong to areas close to Hodal near Palwal in Faridabad and are believed to be regular commuters, according to police officials.

Goel said that with these arrests, the sequence of events which led to the stabbing of Junaid has also, to a large extent, become clear.

Junaid (17) was stabbed when he along with his brothers was returning home to Khandawli village in Ballabgarh after shopping for Eid in Delhi on Thursday.

Goel said that it had come to fore that the 50-year-old man had entered into an altercation with Junaid and his brothers over seat sharing.

"He then passed some remarks hurting the victims' religious sentiments. Our investigations reveal that this 50-year-old man entered into an argument with the victim and his brothers from Okhla over seats.

"However three youths who had boarded the train at New Town Faridabad station also got involved in the quarrel with the 50-year-old man egging them on," Goel said.

Asked if the person who had stabbed Junaid had been nabbed, the SP said the "prime accused" was still at large.