23 March,2014 03:58 AM IST | | Vedika Chaubey
In an incident that sent shock waves through Mumbai’s million-strong community of train commuters — a 55-year-old woman was stabbed to death inside a Churchgate-bound train on Saturday
In an incident that sent shock waves through Mumbai's million-strong community of train commuters - a 55-year-old woman was stabbed to death inside a local train in the wee hours of Saturday.
Panga Andher (55) was fatally stabbed in the luggage compartment of the Virar-Churchgate local, sometime between 4 am and 4.30 am.
Motorman alerted
According to the Government Railway Police at Vasai, Andher was on her way to sell vegetables - her everyday job. She had boarded the train at Nallasopara to go to Borivli. The train left Virar around 3.43 am and the incident was noticed just before the train reached Borivli a little after 4.30 am. According to railway police officers, female passengers in the first class ladies compartment adjacent to the motorman's cabin banged on the partition wall and informed the motorman about the incident. "The women informed the motorman about the incident who then halted the train. Andher was rushed to the nearby Ravi hospital but succumbed to her injuries," said DD Wadmare, ACP, GRP crime branch.
Too far to help
However, because of the walled partition between the ladies compartment and the luggage compartment, neither the home guard on duty nor any passengers could go to Andher's aid even when they heard her screams. Nor could they see the face of the culprit. The railway police are now looking at CCTV footage to see if they can identify the culprit.
Andher was a resident of Ghass Brahma Village at Nallasopara. Railway police officials are also looking into the possibility that the accused might have entered the compartment between two stations when the train may have slowed down. A case has been registered under section 302 of the IPC against an unidentified person.
