A 15-year-old boy was found dead on the railway track on Wednesday near the Magudanchavadi Railway Station. The railway police, after an inquiry, concluded that he was run over by a train while crossing the track on Tuesday night.
According to sources, Pradeep Varman, son of Saravanan, a TNSTC conductor, residing at Ernapuram near Magudanchavadi, had gone missing since Tuesday evening.
Anxious parents searched for him in the neighbourhood. As he could not be traced, a complaint was lodged with the Magudanchavadi police.
On Wednesday morning, passers-by found the body of a boy in a highly-mutilated condition on the railway track near Magudanchavadi railway station.
As the news spread, a large crowd gathered at the spot. The body was then identified as that of Pradeep Varman, whose bicycle was found lying nearby.
The Salem Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force, who conducted investigations, concluded that the boy was run over by an Express train bound for Erode from Salem, while crossing the railway track near the Magudanchavadi railway station around 9.30 pm on Tuesday. He had alighted from his bicycle and lifted it above the railway gate, which was closed at that time.
A case was registered and the body sent for postmortem to the Sankagiri GH.
Saravanan told police that the boy used to frequent his grandmother’s house which was nearby and when the boy did not return home on time, they thought he might have gone there.