The brutal killing of a 33-year-old professor in Mumbai has left the city in shock. Alok Singh, a Kandivali resident and professor of a prominent college in Mumbai, was stabbed to death on a local train following an argument while getting off at the at the Malad railway station on Saturday.
Singh was a mathematics professor at Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics in Vile Parle. His colleague Sudhirkumar Suryakumar Trivedi, who was an eyewitness to the murder, gave HT a blow-by-blow account of the stabbing.
Singh and Trivedi left the NM College after their classes ended at 5 pm and took an autorickshaw to Andheri railway station. From there, we boarded the Dawn Borivali slow local at around 5:25 pm, Trivedi said.
He stated that the general compartment was moderately crowded, adding that he and Singh were standing near the door on the east side of the aisle.
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‘He has stabbed me’
Trivedi said that when the train arrived at Malad at about 5:40 pm, an unknown person behind Singh asked, "Malad is coming, do you want to get off? If you want to get off, move forward."
{{/usCountry}}Trivedi said that when the train arrived at Malad at about 5:40 pm, an unknown person behind Singh asked, "Malad is coming, do you want to get off? If you want to get off, move forward."
{{/usCountry}}To this, Singh responded, "Yes, I will be getting off at Malad, but there are ladies ahead, can't you see?"
The unknown person was described as being around 30-35 years old, of medium build, wearing a white, full-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, with long, black hair and a moustache.
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Trivedi said that since he did not need to get off at Malad, he instead made way for Singh to move towards the door. The train halted at platform 1 at Malad, with Singh and the unknown person still arguing as they got off along with other passengers.
However, when Singh was stepping off while still holding onto the train's doorway, he said: ‘He has stabbed me in the stomach’," Trivedi recalled.
"I immediately grabbed the hair of the unidentified person as he was alighting from the compartment. But he managed to shake off my hand, climbed onto the platform, and started running towards the foot overbridge. I immediately got off the train and chased after him, but since he had a head start, I stopped chasing him. Instead, I shouted to other passengers to catch the man, and I went back to Singh," Trivedi told HT.
The deceased's colleague said that he made Singh sit on a bench on the platform and saw a deep wound in his abdomen. The stab wound, which seemed to have been inflicted with a sharp object, left Alok Singh bleeding profusely.
Trivedi stated that he and other passengers tried to contact several railway helplines and the police, along with the station master at Malad station, to inform them about the incident.
He added that he further told the police about the incident and accompanied the law enforcement officials, who then rushed Singh to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali west.
Accused used ‘forceps’
Singh was examined by a medical officer at the hospital and was declared dead at 6:15 pm. His corpse was then taken to Bhagwati hospital, following which government railway police officers informed the 33-year-old's father about t his death.
Within 12 hours of the murder, police arrested the assailant, identified as Omkar Shinde, from his home in Kurar village in Malad east. Police scanned CCTV footage and saw a panicked Shinde running on a foot overbridge in Malad.
A police team arrived at Shinde's home early on Sunday only to be informed that he had left for work ten minutes ago. The Railway Protection Force was alerted to the matter, and Shinde was arrested as he approached the Malad station. The arrest was made under section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Shinde has been remanded to the GRP's custody until January 30.
GRP officers also revealed that Shinde had confessed to arguing with Singh on the train. Shinde tried to push Singh forward even though a woman was blocking his path to the doorway.
“Just as he stepped off the train, Shinde removed a pair of forceps from his bag and stabbed Singh,” said Kishore Shinde, assistant commissioner of police, GRP.
While the arrest brought some closure to a heartbroken family of Alok Singh, it left millions of commuters feeling unsafe, nervous and vulnerable.