Hit by mobile thief, man falls to death from train in Chennai
CHENNAI: A 24-year-old worker from West Bengal died near Korukkupet on Saturday when he fell off a moving train after being hit by a mobile phone snatcher waiting near the tracks. According to the Korukkupet Railway Police, Rony Sheik was on his way to Chennai from Howrah along with his relative on Coromandel Express when he was attacked by the unidentified thief. He was heading for Kerala for a construction job.
“Around 4.30pm on Saturday, when the train was moving on the Korukkupet-Basin Bridge stretch, an unidentified man standing near the railway tracks hit Rony, who was sitting on the footboard, with his hand and Rony’s mobile phone fell off the train. The victim also lost his balance and fell to the ground. The man then fled from the spot with the mobile phone,” a railway police officer said.
After passersby informed the Korukkupet Railway Police, they rushed Rony to Stanley Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. The body was sent for postmortem. A case has been registered. In a similar incident on Friday, a CISF constable had complained that he was pushed off a moving train near Korukkupet by an unidentified man who allegedly stole his mobile phone.
Vivek Kumar, the 26-year-old police officer from Bihar, was treated at the Government Stanley Hospital before he boarded another train to continue his journey. Police later located the mobile phone near the railway tracks and handed it over to Vivek Kumar.
The victim attached to the CISF unit in Chhattisgarh was headed for Vijayawada on Coromandel Express from Chennai Central Railway Station on Friday when the attack happened.
Korukkupet-Basin Bridge notorious for chain snatching: Cops
The Korukkupet-Basin Bridge stretch in Chennai has become notorious for mobile and chain snatching cases. Police sources said, since most trains are operated slowly on the stretch due to signal issues, anti-social elements wait near the tracks and target people who are sitting or standing on footboard and attack them and escape with mobile phones dropped by them or snatch chains and flee the spot. Multiple cases have been booked, police said.