diff -Naur a/toys/pending/userdel.c b/toys/pending/userdel.c
--- a/toys/pending/userdel.c	1970-01-01 05:30:00.000000000 +0530
+++ b/toys/pending/userdel.c	2014-08-01 04:37:34.777089098 +0530
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+/* userdel.c - delete a user
+ *
+ * Copyright 2014 Ashwini Kumar <ak.ashwini1981@gmail.com>
+ *
+ * See http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_4.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/userdel.html
+
+USE_USERDEL(NEWTOY(userdel, "<1>1r", TOYFLAG_NEEDROOT|TOYFLAG_SBIN))
+USE_USERDEL(OLDTOY(deluser, userdel, OPTSTR_userdel, TOYFLAG_NEEDROOT|TOYFLAG_SBIN))
+
+config USERDEL
+  bool "userdel"
+  default n
+  help
+    usage: userdel [-r] USER
+    usage: deluser [-r] USER
+  
+    Options:
+    -r remove home directory
+    Delete USER from the SYSTEM
+*/
+
+#define FOR_userdel
+#include "toys.h"
+
+static void update_groupfiles(char *filename, char* username)
+{
+  char *filenamesfx = NULL, *sfx = NULL, *line = NULL;
+  FILE *exfp, *newfp;
+  int ulen = strlen(username);
+  struct flock lock;
+
+  filenamesfx = xmprintf("%s+", filename);
+  sfx = strchr(filenamesfx, '+');
+  exfp = xfopen(filename, "r+");
+
+  *sfx = '-';
+  unlink(filenamesfx);
+  if (link(filename, filenamesfx)) error_msg("Can't create backup file");
+
+  *sfx = '+';
+  lock.l_type = F_WRLCK;
+  lock.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
+  lock.l_start = lock.l_len = 0;
+
+  if (fcntl(fileno(exfp), F_SETLK, &lock) < 0)
+    perror_msg("Couldn't lock file %s",filename);
+
+  lock.l_type = F_UNLCK; //unlocking at a later stage
+
+  newfp = xfopen(filenamesfx, "w+");
+
+  while ((line = get_line(fileno(exfp))) != NULL){
+    sprintf(toybuf, "%s:",username);
+    if (!strncmp(line, toybuf, ulen+1)) goto LOOP;
+    else {
+      char *n, *p = strrchr(line, ':');
+
+      if (p && *++p && (n = strstr(p, username))) {
+        do {
+          if (n[ulen] == ',') {
+            *n = '\0';
+            n += ulen + 1;
+            fprintf(newfp, "%s%s\n", line, n);
+            break;
+          } else if (!n[ulen]) {
+            if (n[-1] == ',') n[-1] = *n = '\0';
+            if (n[-1] == ':') *n = '\0';
+            fprintf(newfp, "%s%s\n", line, n);
+            break;
+          } else n += ulen;
+        } while (*n && (n=strstr(n, username)));
+        if (!n) fprintf(newfp, "%s\n", line);
+      } else fprintf(newfp, "%s\n", line);
+    }
+LOOP:
+    free(line);
+  }
+  fcntl(fileno(exfp), F_SETLK, &lock);
+  fclose(exfp);
+  errno = 0;
+  fflush(newfp);
+  fsync(fileno(newfp));
+  fclose(newfp);
+  rename(filenamesfx, filename);
+  if (errno){
+    perror_msg("File Writing/Saving failed: ");
+    unlink(filenamesfx);
+  }
+  free(filenamesfx);
+}
+
+void userdel_main(void)
+{
+  struct passwd *pwd = NULL;
+
+  pwd = xgetpwnam(*toys.optargs);
+  update_password("/etc/passwd", pwd->pw_name, NULL);
+  update_password("/etc/shadow", pwd->pw_name, NULL);
+
+  // delete the group named USER, and remove user from group.
+  // could update_password() be used for this? 
+  // not a good idea, as update_passwd() updates one entry at a time
+  // in this case it will be modifying the files as many times the 
+  // USER appears in group database files. So the customized version
+  // of update_passwd() is here.
+  update_groupfiles("/etc/group", *toys.optargs);
+  update_groupfiles("/etc/gshadow", *toys.optargs);
+
+  if (toys.optflags & FLAG_r) {
+    char *arg[] = {"rm", "-fr", pwd->pw_dir, NULL, NULL};
+
+    sprintf(toybuf, "/var/spool/mail/%s",pwd->pw_name);
+    arg[3] = toybuf;
+    xexec(arg);
+  }
+}