Teen hit by train while taking selfie on platform in Mumbai

The boy was with this friend, who chose not to report the incident to the police because they had lied to their parents about where they were, the police said

A 14-year-old boy was killed while posing for a selfie with a passing train at Mira Road station. The police said the boy was taking a selfie using a phone gifted to him by his parents for his birthday. The boy was in the company of this friend, who chose not to report the incident to the police because they had lied to their parents about their location, the police said.

On November 4, Mohammed Shabbir Ahmed Khan’s parents gifted him a mobile phone. The police said Mohammed called his friend Faisal and they decided to go to Joggers’ Park in Mira Road to take selfies. On the way, however, Mohammed’s cycle developed a puncture so they decided to go the train station instead, but didn’t inform their parents.

The police said while Mohammed was trying to take a selfie on one of the station’s platforms, a train knocked him down. The train’s loco pilot informed the Mira Road GRP about the incident, who took Mohammed’s body to Tembha Civic Hospital for a post-mortem. As the body was unrecognisable, the police concluded it was a 35-year-old man, the police said. Meanwhile, Mohammed’s parents registered a kidnapping case at Naya Nagar police station after their son did not come home for two days.

“The Tembha Civic hospital called us to tell us the body of a 35-year-old man had been found at Mira Road station. We told Mohammed’s parents this, but since he was 14, they did not come to the morgue to identify the body,” said police inspector R Jadhav, Naya Nagar police station.

“But out of curiosity, Mohammed’s mother, Saba, came to visit us. We scanned the railway station’s CCTV footage and she identified Mohammed and Faisal at the station. She decided to see the body and identified her son on the basis of the clothes he had worn the last time she saw him,” Jadhav said.

“Faisal confessed to Saba that he didn’t inform them of Mohammed’s death because they had lied about their location,” Jadhav said. The police have registered an accidental death case.