Bareilly: An imam traveling home to Siwan, Bihar, who was found dead hours after he called his wife from a general coach of the Yog Nagri Rishikesh Express and told her he was being thrashed inside the train, has prompted police to register a murder FIR after initially treating the case as an accident.
Imam Tausif Raza Mazhari's wife Tabassum, 23, alleged that he had been targeted “because of his religious identity, including his beard and skullcap.” Tabassum reached Bareilly with family members on Monday, met officials and submitted a complaint to the Government Railway Police (GRP), alleging that Mazhari had come to Bareilly in the last week of April to attend Urs, a religious event, and had boarded the train from Bareilly Junction at 9.40pm on April 26 to return home.
The FIR said Mazhari called Tabassum within five minutes of boarding and asked her to arrange police help at the next station because he was being assaulted inside the coach. During the call, a video call was also connected, and Tabassum claimed she saw her husband being beaten while no fellow passenger came forward to help. His phone went offline shortly after, and Bareilly police informed her the next morning that her husband had met with an “accident.” Police initially recorded the death as an accident after identifying Mazhari with the help of his Aadhaar card.
The case took a turn after an audio recording of the call was widely circulated online, prompting police to start a deeper investigation. In the 32-second audio, Mazhari was heard purportedly saying, “Tabassum, call the cops immediately, these people are thrashing me badly.”
TOI accessed the autopsy report, which mentioned five injuries on Mazhari's face, shoulder and chest, along with fractures in his skull and all ribs. The report listed haemorrhagic shock and coma as the cause of death.
GRP SHO Sushil Kumar Verma initially refused to conduct a probe, saying the man had been found on the ground and local police would investigate. He later said, “A thorough probe is in progress and the imam's complete travel record is being reconstructed. CCTV footage from Bareilly Junction and surrounding routes is being retrieved, and his mobile phone has been placed under surveillance to trace last contacts. A team may also be dispatched to Siwan. Police flagged that misleading images are circulating on social media and are being monitored.”
