Mumbai: A 24-year-old man, travelling on the roof of a local train, succumbed to severe burn injuries on Tuesday after he touched the overhead wire. The incident took place on Monday at Chunabhatti railway station.
Since the man’s wallet and clothes were charred, he was unidentified until Wednesday. His parents reached the police station, as the victim had not returned home. They were taken to the hospital where they identified the victim after seeing his birth marks on the body.
According to the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) officers, the victim was identified as Ibadullah Khan, who was travelling on the roof of a local train when he accidentally touched the overhead wire, and suffered severe burns.
Police inspector Sachin Marbhal from the Wadala GRP said that Khan, a resident of Sewree, had left his house on Monday evening without informing anyone where he was going. At 5.45pm on Monday after the incident was reported, the train was halted and the power supply was disconnected so that the victim could be rescued.
When the police officers climbed on the rooftop, they found Khan stuck to the overhead wire. The victim was brought down and sent to Sion Hospital, where he was admitted with over 90% burns.
“As a result of electrocution, the man’s clothes and wallet got charred making it difficult to identify the victim,” said Marbhal. On Tuesday the victim succumbed to the burn injuries,” Marbhal added.
The officers said it appeared that the man was travelling on the rooftop for fun. “Travelling on rooftops is a stunt which youngsters perform for fun, though railways make announcements about the high voltage (25 kV/50 Hz) overhead wires, and that travelling on rooftops could be fatal,” said an officer from Wadala GRP.