A cancer patient travelling home from Mumbai died aboard the Gitanjali Express on Saturday, while passengers alleged that his body remained in the coach for nearly 12 hours before railway authorities removed it at Tatanagar Junction in Jharkhand. The incident has also triggered questions over the delayed train’s basic passenger services, including sanitation, food and drinking water.
The deceased was identified as 45-year-old Binod Paswan, a resident of Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. He had travelled to Mumbai for cancer treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital and was returning home in the M-2 coach of the Mumbai–Howrah Gitanjali Express, train number 12859.
According to fellow passengers, Paswan died inside the train at about 8am on Saturday. They said the ticket examiner was informed and told them that a doctor would be called to examine the passenger and confirm the death. The passengers alleged that several hours passed without action and that the body remained inside the coach as the train continued its journey.
The train was running about 12 hours behind its scheduled time. Passengers subsequently demanded that the body be taken off the train at the earliest possible station. When they said no immediate action followed, one passenger lodged a complaint on the Rail Madad portal at around 7pm and also tagged Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a social media post.
The body was eventually removed when the train reached Tatanagar at about 8.30pm. A doctor present at the station examined the passenger and declared him dead, according to Aditya Choudhary, senior divisional commercial manager of the Chakradharpur railway division.
Choudhary disputed the passengers’ account of when railway authorities were informed. He said the railway administration received information at 7.45pm that a passenger was lying unconscious in the M-2 coach of train 12859. He said the matter was being investigated. The conflicting accounts leave the timing of the first railway notification and the steps taken after it unclear.
The incident has also drawn criticism from Kunal Sarangi, a leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, who described it as shameful in a post tagging the railway minister. The passengers’ allegations about the handling of the death have not been independently established in the supplied report, while the railway division has confirmed the station examination and said an inquiry is under way.
Passengers also complained about the condition of the delayed train during the journey. They alleged that the coaches were poorly maintained, the toilets were in an extremely bad condition, and adequate food and drinking water were unavailable. They said children, women and elderly passengers faced difficulty during the prolonged journey and that some travellers had to buy food at high prices from unauthorised hawkers.
The Chakradharpur railway division’s investigation is the next formal step in establishing when the death was reported, what response was initiated inside the train and why the passenger was taken off only after the train reached Tatanagar.
