Police said Kirtibash Sartar vacated his house at Tiruchuli and boarded the Mangaluru Express at Tirupur with his wife Sarabanda and two-year-old child. As Sarabanda started vomiting as the train neared Katpadi, he sought railway officials’ help and the couple got down at Arakkonam Junction where they awaited the arrival of a medical team.

However, by the time the medical team arrived, Sarabanda had breathed her last. Not knowing what to do, hapless Kirtibash sat in the same spot with his child in his arms, while Arakkonam railway police registered a case and sent the body to the Arakkonam Government Hospital for post mortem.

Meanwhile, Ranipet Collector AR Gladstone Pushparaj on hearing of the incident ordered the Arakkonam tahsildar to do the needful to ensure that Kirtibash and his child continued their journey back to West Bengal. Hence revenue officials met railway officials and arranged to provide the father and child food and a ticket to get back home.