Authorities play by the rulebook as trains pass over suicide victim’s body

Mysuru: A 48-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train in the city on Sunday. While the suicide shocked his family members, what was more shocking for them is that the dead body was not removed from the tracks and two more trains were allowed to run over it.

The problem was with jurisdiction and authority between the Railway Police and Government Railway Police (GRP). The body, was, however, later shifted to the mortuary by the GRP.

According to family members, Ranganna, hailing from Paraveli in Guntkal district of Andhra Pradesh and a resident of Medar Block (Yeshavantnagar) near Bannimantap in Mysuru, jumped in front of Malgudi Express near Old Ideal Jawa Gate in Yadavagiri at 8.30 am on Sunday. Ranganna was an alcoholic and was employed at the Railway Goods Shed. He had deserted his family and was living at a Samudaya Bhavan in the area since the last four years. Family members said that soon after the incident, they had informed the Railway Goods Shed authorities who in turn alerted the Mysuru Station Master. Even the Loco Pilot of Malgudi Express had reported the incident to the Station authorities and the Railway Police.

The Railway Police reached the spot and informed the GRP as the latter has the mandate to conduct probes into such incidents. The family members kept on pleading the Cops to shift the body and to their shock, the Railway Police told them that they had no jurisdiction over the incident and it was GRP’s responsibility. As both GRP and the Railway Police played by the rule book, horrified relatives watched to more trains running over Ranganna’s dead body.

Relatives alleged that the GRP, Railway Police and Railway authorities stood on the adjacent track and allowed the trains to pass over the body. “We were told that the train would not disturb the body. This is inhuman,” family members said.

Speaking to Star of Mysore on the incident, M.K. Devaraj, Railway Police ASI, said that the GRP men had gone to Byadarahalli firing range for a training session and as such, there was a delay in attending to the suicide case. “Only one Head Constable Nandeesh was available when the incident was reported and he alerted Sub-Inspector Krishnamurthy and I was informed. We came to the spot at 11.30 am and shifted the body to the K.R. Hospital mortuary for post-mortem,” Devaraj said.