New Delhi: Shortly before he died, Imam Tousif Raza called his wife and pleaded for help, saying fellow passengers were beating him. Days later, a post-mortem report accessed by The Wire recorded multiple ante-mortem injuries, including fractures in all ribs. His family has alleged that he was assaulted on board a train before his body was found near railway tracks in Bareilly. On April 26, 2026, 29-year-old cleric Mohammad Tousif Raza spoke to his wife, Tabassum, three times in quick succession around 9:45 pm.Screenshots of Tousif’s call log, seen by The Wire, show that one of them was a video call. His wife’s number is saved as ‘Jaan’ (beloved) in his phone. His last calls to Tabassum comprise what could be a crucial piece of evidence: a 29-second audio recording that suggests he was attacked by a group of men while travelling on the Rishikesh-to-Muzaffarpur Special Train.Tousif who had got married two years ago was returning after taking part in the annual Urs in Bareilly held between April 24 and 25. A blood-stained and soiled railway ticket, later recovered from Tousif’s pocket, with an ironic ‘Shubh Yatra (Happy Journey)’ message on it, from Bareilly Junction in Uttar Pradesh to Siwan junction in Bihar, is another painful reminder of what would be his last journey home. File photo of Tousif Raza. Photo: By arrangement.Frantic after receiving Tousif’s calls, Tabassum tried to reach him several times. Her subsequent calls went unanswered, the family learnt about Tousif’s death the following morning, on April 27.Speaking to local reporters, Tousif’s father, Mohammad Abul Hussain, said, “At 7 am, my daughter-in-law informed me that Tousif had been assaulted and that there was no response on his mobile phone after that. Around 9:30 am, I called my son’s number again. This time, someone identifying himself as a member of the Bareilly police answered the call and said that my son was in a serious condition and needed medical attention.”“My other son, Razzaq, then called Tousif’s number again and insisted on speaking with him. This time, the voice at the other end said, ‘How can we make you speak with your brother? He is no more’,” Hussain added.Tousif’s body had been found near the railway tracks in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district on April 27.‘Skull cap he usually wore had fallen off’On April 30, Mujahid Alam, a former Janata Dal (United) MLA who is currently with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, met Tousif’s family at Bakhotoli village in Bihar’s Kishanganj district.Screenshot of outgoing calls from Tousif’s phone to his wife.Speaking to The Wire about the sequence of events as narrated by Tousif’s family, Alam said, “He [Tousif] told his wife in the local Surjapuri dialect that some people on board the train were physically assaulting him and that they were drunk. He then asked her to call the Shahjahanpur police and file a complaint.” Shahjahanpur, around 80 km from Bareilly, was the next stop after the station from where Tousif had boarded the train.In the 29-second audio call recording between Tousif and Tabassum, accessed by The Wire, Tousif can be heard saying: “These guys are saying all sorts of things and are beating me. Call the police. Please help.” Midway through the recording, he is also heard pleading with fellow passengers, “Brother, please see, these people are harassing me.”According to Alam, “When his wife called him again on video, she saw someone pulling Tousif by the collar and repeatedly slapping him. Soon after, the mobile screen suddenly went black. During the video call, she also noticed that the skullcap he usually wore had fallen off, and he was unable to speak properly as someone held him by the collar.”Though the family managed to retrieve the initial audio recording from Tousif’s mobile after his final rites, they have no evidence related to the video call. “She [Tabassum] lives in a village; it did not occur to her at that moment to take a screenshot or record the video call on another phone,” former MLA Mujahid Alam told The Wire. ‘He was killed and then body thrown away’On May 1, Tabassum, while speaking to local media in Bihar’s Kishanganj, voiced her apprehensions surrounding her husband’s death.“They [those assaulting Tousif] were accusing him of theft. He even opened his bag and showed them books, telling them that he teaches at a madrassa. My husband was killed deliberately. I want justice now,” she told reporters.“If this had been an accident, then my husband’s mobile phone would not have been in such good condition. You can see there is not even a scratch on his phone,” Tabassum further said.Speaking over the phone from Bakhotoli village in Kishanganj, Tousif’s younger brother, Tauheed Raza, told The Wire, “Based on the audio clip, we are 100% sure that he [Tousif] was killed on board the train and then the body was thrown away.”Tauheed, who works at a guest house in Delhi, rushed to Bareilly on April 27 after learning about his brother’s death. Recounting the injuries on Tousif’s body, he told The Wire, “Anyone who saw the body would conclude that he was murdered. There were injury marks on his head, wounds around his eyes, injuries on his shoulders and several other places. Both his legs were fractured, one hand was fractured, and there were injuries on both sides of his torso as well.”Tabassum, wife of Tousif, speaking to reporters on 1 May.The family has not yet filed a formal complaint. Tauheed, while speaking to this reporter, confirmed that while they were earlier not in a state to pursue the case, they now plan to file a complaint in Bareilly based on a lawyer’s advice. Post-Mortem report states ‘all ribs fractured’In a six-page post-mortem report dated April 27, 2026, accessed by The Wire and signed by Dr Ashutosh Parashari at Bareilly’s Post Mortem House, the cause of Tousif’s death is recorded as “hemorrhagic shock and coma.”Under the column titled ‘Opinion’, the medical officer concluded that the injuries were “antemortem in nature”, meaning they were sustained before death.The post-mortem report records a total of five injuries:Injury No. 1: Lacerated wound (12 cm × 9 cm), brain deep, on the parieto-occipital region (back of the head)Injury No. 2: Contusion (6 cm × 5 cm) on the apex of the right shoulderInjury No. 3: Contusion (8 cm × 5 cm) on the dorsal surface of the right forearm, with underlying bone fractureInjury No. 4: Contusion (35 cm × 30 cm) on the chestInjury No. 5: Abrasion (16 cm × 8 cm) on the right flank regionMedically, a laceration refers to a tear in the skin or soft tissue, usually caused by blunt force trauma, while a contusion refers to bruising caused by impact. Both injuries are commonly associated with blunt-force assault or severe physical impact.The post-mortem report also notes injuries to both the left and right lungs, which were described as “lacerated”. Under the column for chest wall, ribs/sternum and cartilage, the medical officer recorded: “All ribs are fractured.”Police’ responseBetween April 30 and May 1, the official X handle of Bareilly Police put out three responses in connection with Tousif Raza’s death. In its first official response shared on X at 7.13 pm on April 30, the Bareilly Police stated: “It is being alleged on social media that the deceased Tousif Raza was attacked and then pushed off the train. Such allegations are misleading and devoid of facts.”According to the statement on behalf of the Bareilly Police, “based on evidence collected and examination of the body, it has come to light that owing to excessive heat the deceased sat near the gate of train and dozed off following which he lost his balance and fell from the train with serious injuries inflicted on head, limbs, trunk and face resulting in his death.”The same day, on April 30, at 11:51 pm, in their second response on the incident, the official X handle of Bareilly Police posted a video statement of the Superintendent of Police, Manush Pareek. “Following the formalities related to the Panchayatnama (identification of body) while the body was handed over to the family members from Kishanganj, they thought it to be an accident, however, today they are suspecting that physical assault preceded the victim’s death. We have spoken with the family and apprised them that once a complaint is filed necessary legal action will be taken,” said SP Pareek. Speaking to The Wire, Bareilly SP Manush Pareek, while responding to a question on why the police had not initiated any action so far, said, “I have spoken with the family and told them that we will initiate legal proceedings once they file a complaint since the scene of crime was here. There is no contradiction per se. We have even told the family that even if their local guardians want to file a complaint we will proceed.”Commenting further on the legal procedure, SP Pareek said, “In order to start an investigation, we need an FIR or a formal complaint.”When asked whether the nature of injuries mentioned in the post-mortem report – such as ‘all ribs fractured’ – suggested accidental injuries, SP Manush Pareek told The Wire, “Without proper investigation and without expert’s opinion, we can’t say anything. It would be too early to comment.”Underlining the technicalities associated with such incidents, another police official familiar with the matter, who did not wish to be named, told The Wire, “Since the incident as is being mentioned in the audio pertains to what happened inside the train so the case falls under the jurisdiction of the GRP (Government Railway Police) and RPF (Railway Protection Force) so whenever crime is registered investigation will be done by GRP police station in Bareilly.” Demand for probeTousif’s death has triggered political reactions, with Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi asking Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to order a probe into the incident.Meanwhile, Bareilly-based organisation All India Muslim Jamaat sent a letter on April 28 to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking a CBI probe into the case. “Such incidents with Muslims on board a train have been reported earlier as well, if a train journey will also attain communal colour then what will happen to the democratic structure”, states the letter issued on behalf of the All India Muslim Jamaat. In 2023, an RPF constable had killed three Muslim passengers travelling on the Jaipur-Mumbai Superfast Express.Speaking to The Wire, Maulana Shahbuddin Razvi Barelvi, national president of the All India Muslim Jamaat, said, “It is our apprehension that this seems to be an incident related to mob lynching. So we have asked for a probe in order to ascertain facts related to the case.”