20-year-old Army recruitment applicant hit by running train in Mumbra, dead

A 20-year-old man, who came to Mumbra from Dhule for an Army recruitment examination under the Agnipath Scheme, met with a tragic end in a freak railway accident; he got down at Mumbra station and was feeling nauseous; so, he went to the edge of the platform to vomit; however, he failed to see a local train approaching and was hit by it; he was declared dead upon arrival at civil hospital

A 20-year-old man, who came to Mumbra from Dhule for an Army recruitment examination under the Agnipath Scheme, met with a tragic end in a freak railway accident.

CCTV grab of Rameshwar Devre being knocked by a running train at Mumbra railway station on Wednesday morning. Devre was in Mumbra from Dhule for an Army recruitment examination under the Agnipath Scheme. He was dead by the time he was taken to civil hospital. (HT PHOTO)

The man, Rameshwar Devre, got down at Mumbra station and was feeling nauseous. So, he went to the edge of the platform to vomit on Wednesday morning. However, he failed to see a local train approaching. He was hit by the train and was thrown backwards on the platform. He was taken to a hospital but was declared dead. His body was sent to Dhule to his family.

Devre was a resident of Vadjai Village in Dhule and stayed with his elder sister, younger brother and parents. The family needed to save money for their daughter’s wedding, for which Devre decided to do his bit. He always wanted to get into government service and saw an advertisement for the Agnipath Scheme recruitment.

The first session for the recruitment scheme is being held in Mumbra since September 20 at Shri Abdul Kalam Azad Sports Stadium in Kausa, Mumbra.

According to Government Railway Police SPI, P Kande, said, “As per people on platform No. 3 and the CCTV footage, the deceased felt nauseous and ran to the edge of the platform to vomit. Within three to four seconds, the fast CSMT-bound local train came and knocked him over. We took him to the civil hospital, where he was declared dead due to head injury. We have registered an Accidental Death Report in the matter. His body was sent to his village in Dhule with his brother.”

Devre’s cousin Pankesh Suryvanshi, 28, stays in Titwala, and couldn’t understand how to tell Devre’s family about his death. The family is very poor and did not have money to travel to Thane for seven hours and take his body back. The family was trying to arrange money for the same.

Suryavanshi said, “The Devre family is poor and works on farms. His father could not pay the train fare, so we have to get an NOC to take my brother back to the village. The entire family is in shock and has not taken a sip of water or eaten anything since hearing the news. They had faith in Rameshwar, who was an obedient son and was known as a well-mannered and hard-working person in his village. He used to work at the farm as well as prepare hard for the Army examinations.”

Devre left home on Tuesday evening and got ready for the recruitment rally in the train itself. He alighted in Thane after eight hours of journey. He then boarded a local to Kalyan and reached Mumbra at around 11am.

Suryavanshi added, “He told me that he would meet me after he completed his examinations and if there was still time left for his return journey. This was hardly his third or fourth visit to Mumbai because of which he didn’t understand where the train was coming from and where not to stand. He was accompanied by some youngsters on the platform who were also going for the same examination. I got a call from the police and they called me to the civil hospital in Thane as my number was there in his phone as the last dialled one. I thought it was just a minor accident but then I was completely shocked when I saw his body. He suffered severe head injury because of which he was dead on the spot.”