A day after a 35-year-old lady passenger was run over tragically by a train at Jalgaon Railway station in north Maharashtra, the Central Railway on Friday denied the allegation made by the nephew of the deceased passenger that she was killed after having been ‘pushed’ out of the train by a ‘drunk’ Ticket Travel Examiner (TTE).

After lady passenger Ujwala Nilesh Pandey was killed after being run over by a moving train — lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Rajendranagar Express — on Thursday, her nephew Rahul Purohit had lodged with the local Railway police, alleging that a ‘drunk’ TTE Sampat G Salunke had ‘pushed’ her out of the train leading to her death.

Giving a clean chit to the train’s duty conductor SG Salunke on the basis of CCTV footage of the incident and breath-analyser test conducted on him, the Central Railway categorically stated that there was no truth the allegation that she was pushed out of the train by Salunke, “who was helping her” and that the duty conductor was not under influence of alcohol as was alleged by the family member of the deceased passenger.

In a statement issued here, the Central Railway said, “The nephew of the lady alleged that on duty conductor (Shri SG Salunke) of the train pushed the lady and she fell and got run over by the train which is not correct. CCTV footage indicates that the conductor was helping her. Unfortunately, she fell down and got run over by the train.”

“The allegation that the TTE was drunk is wrong as breath analysis test conducted on the TTE found to be negative. It is also seen from the CCTV footage that the lady passenger had sufficient time to board the train,” the statement added.

According to a CR spokesperson, the lady passenger had “tried to board the running train in A-1 Coach along with 2 daughters”, after the train — which arrived Jalgaon railway station at 5.47 am on Thursday –had begun to move out of the train for its onward journey.

“They (woman passenger and her daughters) had unreserved second class ticket. The nephew of the woman who had a platform ticket came to leave her. The two daughters boarded the running train and when the woman tried to board the running train she fell and got run over,” the CR statement said.

Contrary to the allegation made by the nephew of the deceased woman passenger, eyewitness accounts had said that Khandwa-bound Ujwala lost her balance when she tried to get into an AC compartment of the train, and fell down in the gap between the train and the platform, and she was killed instantly.

The Central Railway’s statement is in line with the findings of the CCTV footage of the incident that had showed that the woman and her two daughters had come on to the platform, along with her nephew Purohit, when the train had set into motion. The nephew first managed to help the two young girls board the AC compartment of the train.

Duty Conductor Salunke was seen in the CCTV footage trying to help the woman passenger board the train. However, when the woman was trying to board the train, she lost her balance and was not able to land her feet inside the train.  She fell into the gap between the train and the platform, and was run over by the train.