Ten days after a 19-year-old youth lost his balance and fell from a moving train, the Upparpet police recovered his body from the banks of the Lokapavani river in Srirangapatna on Thursday. The deceased, Abhishek, who worked as a helper at a bar and restaurant in Gandhinagar, was reportedly trying to take a selfie when he fell.
“Abhishek along with four of his friends boarded a train to Mandya on the night of November 8 from Majestic to attend a village religious programme. He called his mother from the station before boarding the train to inform her that he was coming home,” said Deputy Commission of Police (DCP West) Sanjeev Patil.
While the train was approaching Pandavapura, around 2 a.m., he was seen clicking selfies near the door, according to one of friends. He told the police that Abhishek lost his balance and was seen hanging onto the coach door before “disappearing”. Instead of sounding an alarm, his friends got down at Mandya and searched for him on the tracks before alerting his family members.
Based on a complaint filed by a relative, the Upparpet police questioned his friends and later took the help of their Mandya counterparts, railway police and local fishermen to search for Abhishek.
After several days of searching, his body was recovered from the banks of the river, around 7 km from the spot.
“Inquiries revealed that Abhishek had leaned out of the door to take a different selfie and failed to notice an iron bar of the bridge passing by. He fell into the river and due to heavy rain the body was swept away,” said a police official.
Mr. Patil appealed to people to take all precautionary measures while travelling in trains, and avoid taking selfies near doors of a moving train. “A momentary lapse can be a great danger and cause irreparable damage,” he said.
