New Delhi: A week after Imam Tousif Raza’s body was found near railway tracks in Bareilly, his wife Tabassum Khatoon on Monday (May 4) filed a formal complaint with the Government Railway Police, alleging that he was assaulted by co-passengers inside a train coach and thrown out. Police have now registered an FIR under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unknown persons.On May 4, 2026, Tabassum Khatoon, wife of Imam Tousif Raza, travelled from Bihar to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and submitted a complaint seeking registration of an FIR over what the family alleges was an assault on board a train. Tousif’s body was found near railway tracks in Bareilly’s Palpur Kamalpur village on April 27. In her two-page complaint, a copy of which was seen by The Wire, addressed to the Station House Officer of the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Bareilly Junction, Tabassum wrote: “I am sure that my husband was murdered inside the train coach by co-passengers. He was physically assaulted and then thrown out of the train, resulting in his death, just so that the murder could be made to look like an accident.” “My husband was the sole bread-earning member of our family who took care of our daily expenses. Since my hometown is in Bihar and owing to last rites, I could not file a complaint earlier. But now, as someone who wants justice, I’m submitting this complaint for perusal,” she further wrote in the letter submitted to the police on May 4.Complaint filed by Tabassum Khatoon. Photo: By arrangementComplaint filed by Tabassum Khatoon. Photo: By arrangementAs reported earlier by The Wire, Tousif’s post-mortem report recorded multiple antemortem injuries, including the remark that “all ribs are fractured”. Speaking to The Wire on May 1 from Bakhotoli village in Bihar’s Kishanganj district, Tousif’s younger brother, Tauheed Raza, had said, “Anyone who saw the body would conclude that he was murdered.” Along with the complaint filed on Monday, the family submitted a 29-second audio clip, a railway ticket and a copy of the post-mortem report to the police as supporting evidence.In the audio clip – which forms a crucial piece of evidence – Tousif, speaking to Tabassum on April 26 while travelling on board the Rishikesh-to-Muzaffarpur Special Train, can be heard saying, “Some people are beating me, please call the police in Shahjahanpur,” referring to the next stop, around 80 km from Bareilly.Speaking to The Wire, Tabassum confirmed that her complaint had been accepted and that she was assured “action will be taken.” She could not speak much owing to ill health. She was accompanied by relatives as well as members of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had, on April 30, asked Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to initiate a probe into Tousif’s death.Relatives and AIMIM members accompanied Tabassum Khatoon to the GRP police station in Bareilly. Photo: By arrangementSpeaking to local reporters, Nadeem Qureshi, AIMIM’s general secretary in Uttar Pradesh, said, “We demand from the police, administration and the railway minister that such incidents need to stop. Those with a beard and wearing a skull cap are being targeted and I would urge both the UP government as well as the central government to consider bringing a new law on mob lynching.”A protest march was also carried out in Kishanganj recently, while an old video of Tousif has surfaced in which he raised concerns over political silence on incidents related to the lynching of Muslims.The Bareilly Police had on April 30 issued a statement saying that “owing to excessive heat, Tousif who was sitting near the gate of the train, dozed off and fell off after losing balance”. Bareilly Superintendent of Police Manush Pareek had later told The Wire, “In order to start an investigation, we need an FIR or a formal complaint.”Speaking to The Wire on the development of Tabassum filing a complaint today, GRP Station House Officer Sushil Kumar Verma said, “We have registered the FIR related to a murder case under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unknown persons. Now we will carry out the investigation.”In a statement on X on May 5, the Bareilly Police said that the incident was earlier considered an accident, and an FIR had now been filed based on the family’s complaint.#UPPolice https://t.co/8LgKwtEc2d pic.twitter.com/S9nvpHQwCQ— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) May 4, 2026When asked how the investigation would proceed in the absence of eyewitnesses or video evidence of what transpired inside the train on the intervening night of April 26, SHO Sushil Kumar Verma further added, “It is a blind case but we will put in efforts to ensure the case is resolved if indeed an incident happened.”Note: This article was updated at 6:55 PM on May 5 with the Bareilly Police’s latest statement.