Raza, a cleric in a mosque at his native place in Kishanganj district, had come to attend a religious event in Bareilly and was returning home in a Bihar-bound train.

The accused was identified after scanning over 300 passengers aboard the train the cleric was travelling in and questioning many of them, officials said.

Moradabad GRP Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashutosh Shukla told The Indian Express, “We got a major help from Home Guards Recruitment Exam candidates travelling in the same train. These aspirants recorded on their mobile phones a heated exchange between Raza and Pankaj. The police team investigating the case had a tough time tracing these candidates.”

Raza was travelling in a sleeper coach- S-8, even though he had a general ticket, it is learnt.

The police team collected the list of nearly 300 passengers travelling in the S-7, 8,9 and 10 coaches. While many of these passengers were contacted on phone, a woman admitted to having witnessed the cleric being heckled by a likely drunk passenger, the SP added.

He added, “The woman said the accused picked up a fight with the cleric accusing him of stealing his mobile phone even as he had the device with him. The cleric tried to convince him that he had no other mobile phone except his own, but the man kept abusing and shouting at him. She said Tauseef went to other coaches to avoid the confrontation, but the accused kept chasing him. Tauseef came to the door of a coach when the accused manhandled him and pushed him in the wee hours of April 26.”

Police were informed about a body lying near the tracks in the Cantonment area around 7 am. The mobile phone helped identify the deceased.

After getting the woman’s testimony, police were told by some passengers that there was a group of youths who had recorded the incident.

A video procured from these youths, found to be Homeguards exam aspirants, showed the face and physical appearance of the accused. They also scanned footage from CCTV cameras installed at railway platforms in Moradabad, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur. Then they zeroed in on Rajput by scanning the mobile phones active in the area during that period, the SP informed.

The police said during his interrogation, Pankaj confessed to have pushed the cleric off after a physical assault, and that he was drunk.

Pankaj had boarded the train in Moradabad for Bareilly, but did not deboard at his destination since he was drunk and instead got down at Shahjahanpur, police said.

Earlier employed at a liquor shop, he lost the job due to his drinking habit and was currently working as an electrician, the SP said.