Student, 21, killed crossing tracks at Bhandup; family seeks compensation from Railways

The family of a 21-year-old college student who died while crossing the tracks at Bhandup has demanded compensation from the Railways. The death came a day after Central Railway's suburban services were disrupted for several hours on Monday by a major signal failure. The family alleges the failure led to his death.

The deceased is Sahil Navnath Thite, a final-year BCom student at Ratnam College. He was hit on Monday evening at Bhandup station by a fast local heading towards Kalyan. According to the family, the disruption meant Sahil could not travel towards Bhandup on a fast local, so he was trying to catch a slow train.

Relatives said several passengers were crossing the tracks to reach another platform at the time. They said Sahil was climbing onto the platform when his bag got caught in an oncoming train. He fell and died. Sahil's cousins, Vishal Thite and Sandeep Thite, have demanded compensation from the Railways. They allege that the disruption to services caused the fatal accident.

Sandeep also claimed that five people died in accidents linked to signal failures between Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar and Mulund. Kurla railway police, on the other hand, described Sahil's death as an accident arising from trespassing on the tracks and denied any link to the signal failure.

In a separate accident on Monday, two brothers died on the tracks between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli. They are Kharban Rajbhar (39) and Rahul Rajbhar (25), both labourers. Sub-inspector Pradeep Shinde of Kurla railway police station said the brothers were from Mau in Uttar Pradesh and lived together in a chawl in Thane, away from their families.

According to Shinde, Kharban was married with four sons, while Rahul was unmarried. The accident occurred at about 4 pm, involving an AC fast local heading towards Kalyan. As the spot lies between two stations, there is no CCTV footage of it. Railway police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) and are investigating the circumstances.

The deaths came on a day when commuters faced severe hardship. On Monday morning, a fire broke out inside a signal hut at Kanjurmarg. The fire damaged the Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) rack and Signalling and Telecommunication (S&T) equipment, affecting train operations. A separate problem with overhead equipment between Mulund and Thane made matters worse.

A member of Sahil's family declined to say much. "We are going to Pune for Sahil's last rites, and we do not feel like talking," the relative said.

Dr Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway, said the damaged CTC rack and S&T equipment had been repaired by about 7 pm on Monday. He confirmed that there was no signal problem on Tuesday. Central Railway has set up a high-level committee to determine the cause of the fire.