CHENNAI: A class XII student, who lost his original marksheets at the Egmore railway station, has turned to social media for help. Boopathi Raja, who scored 1,114 marks in his class XII examination, arrived here for counselling under the ex-serviceman quota at the Omandurar Government Medical College when he noticed the documents missing.
“We reached the college at 11.15 am on Sunday and the security personnel asked us to take photocopies of my certificates. We searched for a shop to take printouts of copies I had in my email. Since it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed. Finally, we went to the counselling venue at 12.15 pm. The security personnel informed me that all 60 batches of students participated in the counselling and the quota was over,” said a disappointed Boopathi.
Boopathi was directed to revisit the counselling centre on Saturday and to retrieve the duplicate copies from the authorities concerned in Virudhunagar. “Now that I lost the ex-servicemen quota, I have to participate in the medical counselling in the general quota only,” he said.Bhoopathi Raja’s father Ganesan, a CRPF constable, died in harness when he was four-year-old. He was brought up by his mother Rajalakshmi, a homemaker, and his elder sister Poongkodi, who has applied for her Master’s in a local college in Virudhunagar.
Recalling the incident, Bhoopathi said, “On Sunday, I arrived at the Egmore railway station with my uncle Ganesan around 4 am. Since we were very tired from travelling in an unreserved compartment of the Mangalore Express from Virudhunagar to Chennai and also because there was time before the counselling scheduled to begin 9 am, we decided to take a nap. My uncle had the bag under his head. But when we woke up around 6 am, our bag was missing. We searched everywhere and finally filed a complaint with the railway police,” said Boopathi Raja.
His class X and class XII marksheets, transfer certificate, Aadhar card, ration card, community certificate, NEET report card, his father’s pension book and service records, all in original, were missing, said Bhoopathi, who was a student of SRV Boys Higher Secondary School in Rasipuram, Namakkal. Meanwhile, CCTV camera footages at the Egmore railway station clearly showed a 60-year-old man and another person lifting the bag and walking towards the suburban train to Tambarm at 5.15 am. Boopathi’s uncle, who had initially kept the bag under his head, later moved the bag below the bench he was sleeping on, revealed the CCTV footage.
Bag under the head goes missing
Recalling the incident, Bhoopathi said, “On Sunday, I arrived at the Egmore railway station with my uncle Ganesan around 4 am. Since we were very tired from travelling in an unreserved compartment and also because there was time before the counselling scheduled to begin 9 am, we decided to take a nap. My uncle had the bag under his head. But when we woke up around 6 am, our bag was missing.