After Killing Junaid Khan, Main Accused Found Job In Maharashtra: Police

Faridabad: The man, arrested on charges of stabbing 16-year-old Junaid Khan on a train in Haryana a fortnight ago, had hoped to put the June 22 murder behind him and found himself a job in a factory in Maharashtra's Dhule.

A security guard in a private company in the national capital till recently, the police said the man stayed in Mathura for a few days after the crime that sparked national outrage over the growing religious intolerance. About four days back, a relative helped the accused get a job in Dhule. He didn't get to keep it for long; the 30-year-old was arrested from Maharashtra yesterday.

The arrest has brightened hopes in Junaid Khan's family that they might get justice. "He should be hanged," Junaid's father Jalaluddin said as he and his family spoke how the killing had scarred them, and their village for life. Junaid's brother Haseeb echoed his father, pointing how he was too scared to return to Gujarat for his studies.

Junaid Khan and his brothers - Haseeb and Shakir and cousin Moeen - were returning to their village in Haryana on June 22 after a day-trip to Delhi to shop for Eid when a murderous mob turned on them after a tiff over seats.

Haseeb said his skull cap was pulled off his head and his beard was tugged while the crowd shouted abuses at the Muslim men in addition to yelling they were "anti-nationals" and "beef-eaters".

The main accused was initially not involved in the tiff between Junaid and the five other people arrested by the police earlier, Kamaldeep Goyal, a senior officer in Haryana's railway police told reporters. But at some point, he joined in the fight, pulled out the knife that he was carrying and allegedly stabbed Junaid and brothers. "He has confessed to the stabbing," he said.
 The senior police officer, however, made it clear that they had not come across anything to suggest that anyone made a reference to the victims being beef-eaters before the stabbing. "This has not come up so far," he said, either in formal statements of Junaid's brothers or the interrogation of the main accused.

But the police officer stressed they were yet to complete the accused's interrogation. "It is still an open ongoing investigation," he said. "What was the sequence of events, what exactly led to murder of Junaid, will become known after main accused's interrogation," Mr Goyal added.

The weapon has not been recovered so far, he said, adding the accused told the police that the knife, with which he attacked Junaid, was in his possession.

Mr Goyal said it was difficult case for them as thousands of people travel from Delhi to Mathura daily on local trains. He, however, refused to reveal how they were able to trace the accused to Maharashtra except to call it "a culmination of continuous efforts made by the police". On Monday, the police had also offered Rs. 2 lakh for any information that could lead to the killer.