A 19-year-old college student died when he accidentally slipped and fell between the platform and a running train, reportedly while trying to evade the ticket inspector at Veppampattu in Tiruvallur district on Wednesday.
The incident sparked protests by college students who held up trains on the Chennai Central - Arakkonam section for over two hours.
According to police, Raman, a second-year student at Sriram Polytechnic College in Veppampattu, used to commute to college by local train from Pattabiram, where he was staying.
On Wednesday, Raman had boarded the First Class compartment, where season ticket holders are not allowed. Upon seeing the ticket inspector, he had tried to jump off the running train to the platform, when he slipped and injured his head. Subsequently, he was run over by the train.
Other students who were at the platform alerted the college to send an ambulance as their bid to reach the 108 service failed. However, the ambulance sent by the college too arrived late, the students claimed. Raman was pronounced dead on arrival by the hospital.
Following this, the students resorted to a protest on the railway track demanding action against the ticket inspector and the negligent attitude of Railway officials and the college authorities. The protest disrupted train services between Chennai Central and Arakkonam. Sources said that the students also pelted stones on trains, following which police resorted to lathi charge to clear them.
Meanwhile, reports came in that Raman had boarded the train with a expired season ticket due to which the ticket inspector had made him stand along with a few other students near the entrance of the compartment sothat he could take action when the train arrived at the next station. The inspector was said to have tried to get hold of Raman who was trying to jump off the train when the mishap happened.