CHENNAI: A 22-year-old woman who fell off an MRTS train at Indira Nagar Railway Station on July 2 while fighting mobile snatchers from taking her phone, died at a hospital in Chennai on Saturday, July 8.
Five days after the incident, the city police arrested two men involved in the crime.
The victim has been identified as Preethi, a resident of Kandanchavadi. She was an employee of a private firm in Kotturpuram. Preethi regularly commuted on the MRTS, taking the train between Kotturpuram and Thiruvanmiyur.
On the evening of July 2, Preethi was on the MRTS train that was headed to Thiruvanmiyur. She was allegedly standing close to the door as the train was packed. When the train made a stop at Indira Nagar railway station, two men who were later identified by the police as, Vignesh and Teenager Manimaran, tried to snatch her mobile phone.
Preethi tried to resist the muggers, and in the scuffle fell on the platform at Indira Nagar railway station and sustained severe head injuries. The two accused fled the spot with her phone.
The woman's family claimed that bystanders did not call an ambulance or get her access to emergency health care. She was taken to Government Royapettah Hospital by the family after a passenger had called the emergency phone number from Preethi's ID card. She was later shifted to SIMS hospital on the same day. She underwent several surgeries as she had sustained severe injuries on the right side of her head.
Meanwhile, based on the complaint from Preethi's father Srinivasan, the Government Railway Police (GRP) registered a case under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and begun investigation.
Superintendent of Police, GRP, Chennai V. Ponram said, " They analysed the call record details and traced the location of the mobile phone to a fish shop in Besant Nagar. Raju(29), a fish vendor was using Preethi's mobile phone. He told police that he had bought the phone for ₹2,000 from a duo on July 2.
Police arrested S. Manimaran, 19 of Adyar and B. Vignesh, 27 of Pattinapakkam. During the interrogation, they admitted having committed the crime. They told the police that when they were attempting to snatch the phone from Preethi, she had been standing on the footboard of the train and was talking on the phone.
They said she struggled with them to prevent them from snatching the phone, and, in the struggle, she fell off the train onto the platform. Police said the two men were arrested on charges of murder and remanded to judicial custody.