Railways paid money meant for victims at CST to kin of five foreigners, who died at Oberoi, Leopold; want money back
Railways paid money meant for victims at CST to kin of five foreigners, who died at Oberoi, Leopold; want money back
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bloodbath: 52 people died at the massacre at CST on November 26. file pic |
The Railways realised this mistake only when the German Consulate informed them that a German couple, who had been given the compensation, had died at Cafu00c3u00a9 Leopold. The German consulate will now return the cheques.
A Canadian couple and an Australian who had died at the Oberoi were also given the compensation.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) had earlier declared 57 deaths at CST. Apart from two bodies, which still remain unidentified and three, which had some problems in their documents, the rest of the victims' families got the compensation totaling Rs 4.5 crore within 10 days.
Speaking to MiD DAY, Ashok Sharma, GRP commissioner, said, "Our men assumed that the victims at St George had died at CST. The relatives of the victims were not in a position to speak and so they couldn't be sure. Later, we learnt that the five foreigners died in Colaba."
Srinivas Mudgerikar, spokesperson, Central Railway, said, "We have allotted the compensation money to victims' families according to the records provided to us by GRP. We acted promptly as this was a sensitive case."
In the case of foreigners, the railways communicated with the concerned Consulate and with their help, took the details of their relatives.
On December 20, the German consulate wrote a letter to the Railways explaining that the two Germans whom the Railways had paid Rs 10 lakh each had died at Leopold Cafu00c3u00a9, in Colaba. Martin Thummet, acting consul general, wrote the letter on behalf of German Consulate.u00a0
A senior railway official said that the railways are yet to get a reply from the consulates of Canada and Australia. "We are writing to them and shall get the cheques back," he said.
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