A 23-year-old youth was attacked and killed by four persons with sharp weapons after a dispute over seat allocation in a Varanasi-bound train on Thursday.
The injured Tawhid Ahmed died while being taken to the hospital. Tawheed’s two brothers, 20-year-old Talib Ahmed and 34-year-old Tauseef, were also injured in the incident.
Railway police have arrested four accused named Pawan Kumar, Sujith Kumar, Deepak and Mithun aged 20 years from Sultanpur district.
The seriously injured brother Talib has been referred to Lucknow for treatment. Doctors said that his condition is stable.
“All the four arrested persons are being interrogated,” said Superintendent of Police, Government Railway Police (Lucknow) Prashant Verma.
Tauheed, a native of Amethi, was returning home from Ambala, where he worked as a labourer. He boarded the Begampura Express from Lucknow to his hometown. The accused, laborers too, were returning from Ambala.
According to the police, Tauheed had a heated argument with the accused after he asked to share a seat in the Begampura Express. As the dispute escalated, four people beat him up. Tauheed later informed his brothers, who along with their friends arrived at the Nihalgarh railway station.
When the train does not stop at Amethi, passengers usually get off at Nihalgarh railway station in Sultanpur district, 45 km from Amethi.
“When the train reached Hyderabad area, I got a call from Tauheed. He told me that there was a difference with some people in the train and asked me to come,” said Tauseef, brother of the deceased.
“We rushed to Nihalgarh, and when the train stopped, we got on. I saw my brother being stabbed twice in the back. Before I could react, someone hit me with a rod,” Tauseef added while talking to mediapersons.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) said that the clash between Tauheed’s brothers and the accused took place in a corner of Nihalgarh railway station.
The accused got off the train and clashed with Tauheed’s brothers at Nihalgarh railway station, during which Tauheed was stabbed, GRP Station House Officer (Sultanpur) Arvind Kumar Pandey said.
After receiving information about the clash, a team of GRP and Railway Protection Force (RPF) reached the spot and took the injured to the hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, the four accused boarded the train, which then departed from Nihalgarh station.
After the death of one of the injured, Tawhid, the police immediately coordinated with their counterparts in Sultanpur.
“When the train reached Sultanpur railway station, four people were detained after surrounding the general compartment in which the accused were travelling,” Verma said.