CHENNAI: An Ivorian international footballer was found dead on railway tracks on the Mumbai-Howrah route in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Monday.
Diomande Aboubacar’s mutilated body was recovered from the tracks near Baradwar station, around 200km from Raipur, on August 9, Sub-divisional Officer of Police Champa area Udyan Behar said.
According to the officer, a cell phone in his pocket helped establish his identity. It has since emerged that Aboubacar’s death was widely reported by the Ivorian media on Saturday, with former Chelsea star Didier Drogba taking to Twitter to pay tribute. Aboubacar played for Ivory Coast in the 2009 African Cup of Nations and had stints in England and Belgium.
Initial investigation suggests Aboubacar was granted a visa in July for playing football and was on his way to Kolkata by train. The officer said prima facie it appears Aboubacar died after falling off the train but more details would be known after an investigation is completed.
“We have contacted his friends in Delhi and also spoken to his brother and informed him about the incident,” the SDOP said, adding so far nobody has come to claim his body, which has been kept in a morgue of Baradwar.