Vendor run over by train, loses leg after police 'throw' his belongings on tracks

Kanpur: A 17-year-old vegetable vendor lost his leg after being run over by a train while he was collecting his belongings allegedly thrown on a track by police personnel during an anti-encroachment drive here.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Dhull told PTI that Head Constable Rakesh Kumar has been placed under suspension. Police initiated an inquiry after several purported videos surfaced online showing the boy lying on the tracks asking for help as policemen and people try to rescue him, a senior official said.

”Prima facie, it appears Kumar showed negligent behaviour,” Dhull said, adding that Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalyanpur) Vikas Pandey has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit a report at the earliest.

Police personnel had thrown a container of the victim, identified as Arsalan alias Irfan of Rawatpur area, and when he had gone on the railway track to pick it up, he was run over by a train on Friday, Dhull said.

Arsalan lost his right leg and suffered serious injuries to his left leg. He was taken to the Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital from where he was shifted to the SGPGIMS where a surgery was performed on Saturday, he said.

Dhull confirmed that several purported videos of the incident have gone viral and police are trying to obtain the mobile clips and pictures. These will help police to establish the sequence of events, he said.

Interacting with reporters, a local, who identified himself as Mohammad Shanu, claimed that the victim lost his leg after being hit by a train when he was collecting his weighing scale thrown on the tracks by police during an anti-encroachment drive.

The victim’s father Saleem, an auto-rickshaw driver, told media persons that his son’s leg were severed on the spot.