MUMBAI: A viral video of the Mumbai local train stabbing incident helped the Government Railway Police (GRP) recover the knife allegedly used in the crime after a hotel manager alerted investigators that his staff had unknowingly found the weapon. In a related development, a magistrate court on Tuesday extended the police custody of the accused, Roshan Suvarna, till July 6 after the police sought seven more days of custody for further investigation, according to news agency PTI. Suvarna was arrested for allegedly stabbing 22-year-old co-passenger Mayank Lohar to death inside a first-class compartment of a local train between Andheri and Borivali stations last week following an argument over keeping the door shut. According to the police, during custodial interrogation, Suvarna confessed that he had been carrying the knife in his bag for the past four to five months. He told investigators that he had taken the sharp, maroon-handled knife around seven months ago from an Amazon warehouse where a friend worked. Police said Suvarna claimed he threw the knife away after getting off at Borivali railway station. However, despite searching the route indicated by the accused, officers were initially unable to locate the weapon.

The breakthrough came after a video of the incident went viral. A restaurant manager in Borivali approached the police after watching the clip and informed them that one of his staff members had found a knife in a lane near platforms 2 and 3 of Borivali station while out shopping. Unaware of any possible connection to the crime, the staff member had taken the knife to the restaurant's staff room and kept it inside a cardboard box.

Police later recovered the weapon and said it was the same knife allegedly used in the stabbing. The court was informed that further custodial interrogation was necessary to determine why the accused had been carrying the knife for several months and whether it had been used in any previous offences. Investigators also said they needed to establish the motive behind the crime. Opposing the extension of custody, advocate Jaywant Patil, appearing for Suvarna, argued that the police had cited the same grounds while seeking the earlier remand and had already been given sufficient time to ascertain the motive behind the offence. After hearing submissions from both sides, the court extended Suvarna's police custody till July 6.