2 porters carrying commuter’s body off rail tracks mowed down by Mumbai local train

A day after two railway porters moving an accident victim’s body on to the stretcher were mowed down by a local train in Vasai, the police on Wednesday said the motorman of the Virar-bound train honked repeatedly to warn those on the tracks, but they were too focused on clearing the body and did not hear it.

The incident took place around 8.30pm on Tuesday, approximately 30 minutes after S Pangati Raj Naidu, 66, fell off a crowded Virar-bound train. An announcement had been made on the public address system about the mishap, and the two porters — Ram Vilas Paswan, 50, and Hariram Rajbhar, 40 — were at the spot with a stretcher, accompanied by Vasai Road station master Manoj Chavan, two railway cops, a doctor and two other porters.

Paswan and Rajbhar had just loaded the body on the stretcher when another Virar-bound local approached, which no one in the group spotted in the dark till the last moment. “While the rest of them managed to jump out of the path, into the nearby drain, the duo went under the train,” said Vilas Chowgule, senior police inspector from Vasai Government Railway Police.

Chavan fractured his leg and has been admitted to a private hospital, Chowgule revealed. “We will question Chavan about the incident later as he is in hospital being treated for his injuries.”

Dr Pooja Tripathi from Vasai’s Golden Park hospital confirmed that Chavan has fractured his left leg and said he will be shifted to Jagjivan Ram railway hospital in Mumbai soon.

Confirming the mishap, Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, Western Railway, said: “Chavan has been hospitalised, and the Vasai GRP is investigating the case.”

“We have registered a case of accidental death and are investigating,” Chowgule said.