CHENNAI: A passenger was killed by teen-aged mobile phone snatches who pulled him down from a running train near Minjur on November 9. After battling grievous head injuries, sustained during the incident, for five days, Siddeshwara Das died at a hospital in the city on Wednesday night.
Police said the victim had been standing close to the train's door, holding the cellphone, as the Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express slowed down near Minjur around 3.45 pm on November 9. Two teenaged thieves allegedly climbed into the train and tried to snatch the cellphone from Das.
"As the victim resisted, the robbers pulled him down from the running train," said P K Ravi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, GRP, Central. As the victim fell, he hit his head on the adjacent track.
The train was halted after other passengers raised an alarm. Das was rescued and hospitalised at the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday night.
The railway police have arrested two persons, aged 18 and 17, on charges of murder. Both have been remanded in judicial custody.
According to railway police sources, Das, a native of West Bengal, had lost his job recently and was travelling to Chennai in search of a job. On November 9, he was travelling in sleeper coach (S2) of Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express.
Ravi said that police vigilance along the tracks in the Korukkupet-Gummidipundi section has been tightened. "Police have been deployed to monitor the track around the clock," he added.