Kin claims fourth Jaipur-Mumbai train firing victim’s body

Asgar Abbas Sheikh’s family had refused to claim his body unless a job was assured to his legal heir. Pic/Shadab Khan

The relatives of Hyderabad resident Sayyad Saifuddin, who was gunned down by a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable on a train two days back, took possession of his body on Wednesday, railway officials said.

Four persons - RPF Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tikaram Meena, 58, and three train passengers - were shot dead by RPF constable Chetan Singh on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express in the wee hours of Monday near Palghar station.

The three passengers were identified as Nalasopara resident Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala, 58, Asgar Abbas Sheikh, 48, from Madhubani district in Bihar and Sayyad Saifuddin who was originally from Bidar in Karnataka but had settled in Hyderabad.

On Monday, the grieving relatives of Asgar Sheikh staged a protest and refused to take possession of his body unless the Railways assured to provide a job to his legal heir and made arrangements for taking the mortal remains to their native place in Madhubani district. They staged the protest first outside the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital in suburban Kandivali on Monday and continued it on Tuesday at the government-run JJ Hospital, where the body was later taken for a post-mortem examination. They called off the protest on Tuesday evening and agreed to claim the body.

The mortal remains of ASI Meena were dispatched by train to his native place in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan for last rites on Tuesday, after tributes were paid to him by senior RPF officials.

According to Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer, Western Railway, the relatives of Saifuddin reached Mumbai from Hyderabad and took possession of his body from the J J Hospital on Wednesday. "The bodies of all the four victims have been claimed," the official said.

Thakur said an ex-gratia of Rs10 lakh has been announced for the family members of the three passengers who died in the incident, and the amount has been paid to them. Meanwhile, the Railway Board has appointed a high-level committee to conduct a comprehensive probe into the incident.

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