Railways: Athlete Arunima’s story and facts don’t match

Jain said a study of the site where Arunima was found,her mobile phone record,versions of the people she called up and visited the previous evening,and inquiries from railway officials showed two things: that there is little evidence to corroborate her story,and that she is hiding something.

According to Arunima,she boarded the Old Delhi-bound Padmavat Express at Lucknow on the evening of April 10 as she had to participate in a physical test for an ITBP selection at Noida the next day. She was travelling in a general compartment. In the wee hours of April 11,near Chanaiti railway station,some men tried to snatch her gold chain and when she resisted they pushed her out of the door. She landed on the adjacent track and her leg got cut under a train coming from the opposite direction,she said.

On Sunday evening,GRP investigators questioned Arunima at AIIMS,where she is undergoing treatment,and videographed the exercise.

Jain said Arunima stuck to her version. Here is what the investigators have found:

* No physical test for ITBP was scheduled for April 11 in Noida.

*Arunima was found at a spot which is 16 ft away from the up track on which the Padmavat Express passed. She was lying on the far side of the adjacent down track. Investigators say it is impossible for a person who has been pushed out of a train to land so far away.

*Arunima was found at a spot which is about 250 metre away from the Chanaiti railway station between Lucknow-Bareilly. The railway records showed that Padmavat Express halted there from 4.08 to 4.20 am. Therefore,its speed at that point could not have been more than 8 km/hour. But Arunima told the police that the train was moving very fast when she was pushed out.

*After Padmavat Express’s departure,five trains passed the down track in about 45 minutes. Arunima came under one of these trains. The fact that she was found on the far side of the track shows that she actually crossed the line.

*Arunima has said that she carried her certificates and two cellphones in a polythene bag which she had kept on her seat and that this bag was left behind. Investigators found one cellphone in dismantled condition while the other was found intact by a labourer who handed it over to the police. In this cellphone,the call record and the messages had been erased. The labourer said he did not know how to use a cellphone. The police have sent the cellphone to a forensic lab.

*Arunima said that she stayed with her sister Lakshmi and brother-in-law Om PrakashTripathi at Ruchi Khand in Lucknow before leaving for Charbagh railway station around 10 pm on April 10. But the location of her cellphone that evening was on Kursi Road in Gudamba police station area.

Investigations have shown that Arunima had gone there to her estranged husband Robin Chitravanshi’s house. They were married about four months ago,but the marriage lasted barely 20 days. Chitravanshi told the police that they had paid her Rs 4.29 lakh as part of the settlement,but still she had lodged a case of dowry harrassment against him,his parents,sister and brother-in-law. He said Arunima arrived that evening and said that she wanted to apologise,but they refused to talk to her.

*Also,the police found that Arunima went from Kursi Road to Charbagh railway station around 11.00 pm and caught the Old Delhi-bound Padmavat Express from platform number 7 around 12.20 am. After the train left,she made a call to her brother-in-law Om Prakash Tripathi. He arrived at the Charbagh station after half an hour and he remained in contact with Arunima on the phone till 2.30 am while staying at the station.

Tripathi toldThe Indian Express that he kept persuading Arunima to return since she had left for Delhi all of a sudden in his absence.

*Before coming to the station,Arunima had made a call from Kursi Road to her friend Sanjay in Delhi. He has told the police that she was disturbed and decided to visit Delhi all of a sudden. Police said she did not carry any clothes which,too,showed that she had not planned her visit.

*The travelling ticket submitted to the railway authorities for the accident claim,although bought from the Charbagh station at 11 pm on April 10,is meant for a different train which goes to the New Delhi railway station. No ticket was found on Arunima immediately after the incident.

Addl DGP Jain said his team hoped to solve the case in a couple of days.