Mystery shrouds death on train

KOLKATA:The death of Ashok Mondal (36), an employee of the state cottage and small scaleindustries department, is still shrouded in mystery. He was foundlying beside the tracks near Chandanpur station on Sunday. On being informed bythe gateman of a level crossing, who saw Mondal lying there, the station masterstopped a Howrah-bound Burdwan local and put Mondal in the driver’s cabin.The train left Chandanpur at 11.24 am and reached Howrah an hourlater. But Mondal was dead by then. Subsequent inquiries revealed that Mondalwas to return from a training programme in Delhi by Rajdhani Express on Sunday.While some officers suspect that Mondal could have fallen off whenhe tried to lean out, they have also not ruled out the suicide theory. Effortsare on to find out from where Mondal boarded the train and who his co-passengerswere as they may be able to shed light on what happened. EasternRailway, meanwhile, refuted allegations that the Chandanpur station master hadbehaved in a negligent manner by sending Mondal to Howrah by a local train."Chandanpur is a small station. The injured man was lying aboutone-and-a-half kilometre away from the station. The rural health centre is aboutthe same distance away in the other direction. Since it would have taken time tosend Mondal there, the station master stopped a train and put him in thedriver’s cabin, informed the control room and the train’s path waskept clear till Howrah, where a doctor and an ambulance were waiting. So, therewas no way of providing him medical attention before that," said D K Jha,Eastern Railway CPRO. Mondal’s nephew Biswanath Mondal, anofficer of Kolkata Police’s Sixth Battalion, told investigators that hisuncle was a little unmindful and it could have been an accident.