Denied leave, railway trackman man ends life

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 16: In a shocking incident, a railway trackman ended his life by lying down on the railway track. He was run over by a train and his body was cut into two but the man surprisingly remained alive for a few minutes. He did not cry out in pain but lay quietly on the tracks while bystanders made videos and asked him the reason for his drastic step.

A two-minute video, in which he is seen sharing his ordeal with colleagues before succumbing to his injuries, has gone viral. The victim was identified as Ramesh Singh, resident of Bhatpurva village of Fatehpur district. He was supposed to attend a wedding on February 19 along with his wife Archana Devi.

Ramesh had joined railways in 2015. "I was denied leave to attend the wedding of my brother-in-law," he is heard telling colleagues in the video. He then slowly closed his eyes and passed away. The video also shows Ramesh going into an unconscious state from which he could never recover even as his colleagues are trying to arrange for stretchers to pick him up from the track.

According to railway authorities, they received a distress call about Ramesh being run over by a train at the Panki Nagar railway station on Monday evening. "DRM Prayagraj division S.K. Singh has formed a committee to probe the matter and submit a report in 72 hours," said chief public relations officer Shivam Sharma of North Central Railway.

He added, "The victim's family has been given Rs 25,000 and further Rs 24.75 lakh would be provided to the family in due course." "Ramesh was a simple man with a clean track record. There is immense work pressure in a railways job," said a member of the railways employees association.