The Hindu : New Delhi News : Body lies on road for 12 hours as police teams debate legalities

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Body lies on road for 12 hours as police teams debate legalities

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: In a shameful incident, the body of an elderly man kept lying on a road of a railway under bridge in Vivek Vihar here on Friday for several hours even as the local police and the railway police kept fighting over the jurisdiction in the matter.

It all happened around midnight on Thursday night when the elderly man was allegedly hit by a train in Vishwakarma Nagar while crossing a railway track. He was killed on the spot. The body then fell through a gap between the tracks and landed on the road of the railway under bridge.

Area councillor Jitender Singh Shunty said: “The local police were informed about it just a few minutes after the accident, but no one turned up till 3 a.m. We then made a call to the Police Control Room. Soon a PCR van reached the spot, but it left saying that it was the responsibility of the local police to remove the body.

A little later, a local police team reached the spot and argued that it was a case that needed to be handled by the railway police since the accident had taken place on the tracks. The local police officers cited blood stains on the railway track for not taking up the investigation.”

The locals then informed the Government Railway Police about the accident, but the police officers from the two sides continued to argue over jurisdiction for hours. “It continued till noon. The spot under the railway under bridge was barricaded, disrupting the traffic. But none of the two sides claimed the body which kept lying on the road uncovered for nearly 12 hours. Eventually, the locals decided to call an ambulance and cremate the body. At this, the railway police claimed the body and shifted it to a mortuary around 2 p.m.”

Rebutting the allegations, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) B.S. Gurjar said: “The GRP police post received information about the accident around 5 a.m. and there was confusion over jurisdiction leading to some delay in removing the body. But the body was shifted to the mortuary in less than an hour after the matter came to my knowledge around 10 a.m. Also, the delay was partially caused while making an effort to identify the body.”

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