Mumbai: Cancer patient dies at Thane station, relative alleges wife’s cries unheard by railway authorities

A 35-year-old man, a cancer patient, died at Thane railway station on Friday while he was on his way to Tata Memorial Hospital. The man’s wife, who was crying beside her husband, failed to get the attention of the railway authorities. And, it allegedly took half an hour for Railway authorities to attend to the man.

According to Mumbai Mirror, the deceased has been identified as Deepak Gupta (35), and was with his wife Reshma at the time of the incident. The incident took place when they both were traveling to Parel from Kalyan when he collapsed in the train. Kanhaiya Gupta, a relative of the deceased told the leading daily, “He started feeling uneasy and collapsed as the train neared Thane. Passengers in the train then helped carry him out of the train and placed him on a platform bench.” The relative of Deepak Gupta also claimed that the Railway Authorities failed to notice Reshma who was sitting next to Deepak’s body for half an hour.

The officials only rushed to spot when passengers informed them about Deepak’s body, after which the doctors from Thane railway station’s emergency room reached the spot and declared him dead. Deepak’s cousin told the leading, “A woman was crying next to her husband’s dead body for close to half an hour and the authorities didn’t suspect anything wrong. This shows how callously the railway administration takes its duty.”

Deepak Gupta is survived by his wife, 11-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. Sunil Udasi, Central Railway’s PRO, told leading daily, “Ongoing through the CCTV footage, we found the person was brought down by passengers at around 8:15 am. Station officials were informed about the incident by passengers and they reached the spot at around 8:30 am on a stretcher and rushed him to the emergency room. There was no delay.”