Booking clerk beaten up at Cotton Green station

A booking clerk at the Cotton Green railway station on the harbour line was beaten up by the friends of Usman Sheikh, a 22-year-old who fell off a local train while performing stunts. The incident, which took place on Thursday evening, followed an altercation with the friends of the youth and the railway staff at the station.

The roughed up booking clerk, identified as Padangale, filed a police complaint, following which two of the accused were arrested. Meanwhile, Sheikh has been admitted to a hospital with injuries related to the fall.

According to the police, Sheikh fell on the tracks when performing stunts on a running train. When his friends brought him to the station, Padangale, a booking clerk, allegedly didn't call the ambulance on time. According to the Wadala railway police who are investigating the case, after Sheikh fell down, a passerby called the last dialed number on the youth's phone to apprise him of the accident. The friend, Guddu Singh, rushed to the spot with other friends and took Sheikh to the Cotton Green railway station.

As there was no station master present at the spot, they approached Padangale. "Sheikh's friends asked the booking clerk to call for an ambulance immediately but he didn't do so. Usman had to wait for around two hours at the station before being taken to the Sion Hospital," alleged Sheikh's uncle Abdul Shakoor.

Angered by this delay, friends of Sheikh, namely Harshad Sheikh, Guddu Singh and an unidentified person who is absconding now, beat up Padangale. Sheikh's uncle also denied that the youth was performing stunts. But cops said he has suffered serious injuries to his head and fractured a hand. The Government Railway Police have registered a case under Section 353, 332 of IPC.

JR Rathod, senior inspector, GRP, Wadala, said, "We have filed a case against the persons who beat up the booking clerk. Harshad and Guddu have been arrested and sent to judicial custody. The third friend is absconding."u00a0