Rly staffer dies in violence after two children killed in mishap

Angry over the accidental death of two children, a mob attacked a station near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and burnt alive a railway employee and left an assistant station master critically injured with 70 per cent burns on Monday.

The trouble began when Anam, 12, and Ali, 4, were run over by the Tirupati-H Nizamuddin Express in the morning when they tried to cross the track at Gulabganj railway station, about 25 km from Vidisha.

The children, related to each other, had emerged from under a goods train and were apparently unaware of the speeding train that does not stop at the small station.

Within minutes, locals gathered at the station saying that they had been requesting for a foot overbridge for years and the mishap could have been avoided had their demand been accepted.

The mob began beating up railway employees and later damaged the station master's cabin and the control panel room throwing the signalling system out of gear. Soon they resorted to arson.

Of the railway employees who were rushed to the district hospital, Permanent Way Supervisor Bhagwandas was declared brought dead on arrival while assistant station master Sanket Bansal was rushed to a private hospital in Bhopal, where his condition was reported to be critical.

At least three more railway and state government employees sustained injuries when they tried to help the injured persons. Railway PRO K K Dubey said traffic on both sides had been halted after the mob attack because the room housing the control panel had been gutted.

Vidisha SP V P Chandravanshi said the two children had come from Bhopal to attend a family gathering near Vidisha. They were accompanied by relatives and had come to Gulabganj station to catch a train to Bhopal when the mishap took place.

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