When Syed Yunus (24) bid adieu to his brother Syed Saifuddin a week ago on July 25, he would not have imagined that it would be the last time they would see each other. Saifuddin had left for Mumbai from Hyderabad along with his employer to purchase stock for a mobile shop he used to run at Gujarati Galli in the city. The next thing Yunus knew about his brother on Tuesday, August 1, was that he had been killed when the police called him and informed about the incident.
“My brother has three daughters, who are aged six, two, and six months of age. I found out that he died only this morning at around 10 a.m,” said Syed, still in a state of shock. Saifuddin was among one of the four people Chetan Singh, a jawan from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) had shot dead on July 31. Singh first killed his superior officer Tikaram Meena, and then allegedly sought out Muslims and shot dead three of them on a Jaipur Express train from Ajmer to Mumbai.
Saifuddin, who had been working in Hyderabad as a mobile technician for over a decade, is a native of Hamilapur village in Bidar district in the neighbouring state of Karnataka. After news broke that a resident of their colony had been shot dead, neighbours of Saifuddin began gathering outside his house in Battery Lane, AC Guards, where he resided. According to other family members, his wife and children left for Bidar.
“We had no idea that something had happened to Saifuddin. In fact, we had also learnt about the incident like everyone else. He had gone from Ajmer to Jaipur and then was travelling to Mumbai with his shop owner. After that he was about to return back to Hyderabad,” said Afroz, a cousin of Saifuddin.
On Tuesday, Saifuddin’s family members were scrambling to reach Mumbai on time to bring back his body from Mumbai for the cremation. While his brother told TNM it was a work trip to purchase some stock for the mobile shop he worked at, it is not fully clear as to why Saifuddin travelled to Ajmer and Jaipur.
His uncle, Mohammed Wajeed, said that the family was shaken about the horrific incident, which he said was a hate-crime. “This was a cruel and unfortunate incident. People were shot dead by a police officer’s revolver. A person whose job was to protect people chose to ask people their names and shoot them. Is this India or Hindustan? No, it is not. I urge the Union government to take strong action against this individual,” said Wajeed.
Wajeed wants the Union government to help Saifuddin’s daughters study further. “They stay in a rented home, so they should be given a home. His widowed wife should be given a government job as well,” he told the media outside Saifuddin’s house on Tuesday evening.
After the incident, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi sought help from Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to support Saifuddin’s family. “The fourth victim of the #JaipurExpressTerrorAttack has been identified as Syed Saifullah. He was a resident of Bazarghat, Nampally. He is survived by 3 daughters, the youngest is just 6 months old. AIMIM Nampally MLA @Jaffarhusainmla is with the family for the past few hours & coordinating with officials to bring the deceased’s body to Hyderabad. Request @TelanganaCMO @KTRBRS to support the bereaved family in these tough times,” Owaisi tweeted.
Chetan allegedly walked through coaches of the train to attack Muslims. Aside from Saifuddin, he shot two more Muslim men - Asgar Abbas Ali (48) and Abdul Kadar Mohamed Hussain Bhanpurwala (64). Soon after the incident, a video of the accused standing next to a passenger he had allegedly shot also surfaced. He can be heard speaking incoherently, purportedly about Pakistan and Indian media.
Chetan in the video can be heard suggesting that those who “want to live in Hindustan '' must support Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray. The authenticity of the videos is being verified by the police.