Ballabhgarh Lynching: Junaid Khan's killers had a foot-long knife, says kin

The mob, which called a Muslim youth "anti-national and beef-eater" and lynched him on a moving Delhi-Mathura train last week, had almost a "one-foot-long knife-like thing", the deceased's brother, who was also attacked, is said to have told the police.

On June 22, the mob attacked Junaid Khan (16), his brothers Sakir (22) and Hashim (19), besides their friend Moin (19), when they were going to their village Khandavali in Haryana's Ballabgarh after shopping for Eid in Delhi. Junaid succumbed to his injuries.

Junaid's cousin Shakil said, "Hashim has said in his statement to the police that the accused had an almost one-foot-long knife-like thing. He said it looked weird, was sharp at both ends."

It is shameful that even more than a week after the cold-blooded murder, which took place in full public view, the police have failed to arrest the main accused or recover the weapon, Shakil said.

Initial investigations have found that the mob boarded the train between Okhla and Tughlakabad railway stations in Delhi.

Trains on this stretch crawl because both flanks are heavily encroached. The police are combing slum clusters on both sides of the tracks to nab the main accused.

It will be difficult for anyone to carry such a big weapon and board a train undetected by railway security, police sources said. "They must have boarded the train while it ran slow because of the encroachments," a source in the Delhi police told DNA.

"Those in the group looked like daily passengers. We have arrested five persons. Frequent raids and combing operations are on in clusters on both side of the tracks to nab the main accused," a senior police officer said.

Encroachments along tracks have spiked crime cases in Delhi because offenders board and get off trains easily.

In September last year, more than a dozen passengers of Gorakhdham Express were robbed by a knife-wielding gang at Shakurbasti, another encroached railway stretch in Delhi.

Over 50,000 encroachments on railway land have been identified till now across Delhi-NCR, of which 23,000 lie dangerously close to tracks, officials said.

Sakir is recovering from grievous injuries at AIIMS' Trauma Centre in Delhi. He had 12 stab wounds, one of which ruptured his left kidney.

On Monday, villagers in Khandavali shunned Eid celebrations and tied black bands on their arms to protest the lynching, demanding justice for Junaid and other victims.