There were enough warnings. Several commuters shouted at him to move away, the engine’s horn pierced the air. But 20-year-old Sourab Pendkar heard none of it; the sounds muffled by the earphones plugged in.
And before he knew it, Pendkar was mowed down by a speeding, Lucknow-bound Pushpak Superfast Express as he was crossing the tracks between platforms four and five at the Kurla railway station around 9.15am on Monday.
So severe was the impact that parts of his body were found strewn across the tracks. “He was identified from his college identity card,” said senior inspector Shivaji Dhumal of the Kurla railway police station. Pendkar’s cellphone and earphones are still missing.
A resident of Tilak Nagar in Chembur, Pendkar was a second-year BSc student of Ruia College in Matunga. The parents, who were away in Aurangabad’s Paithan to attend a wedding, were expected to return to Mumbai by Monday night. Eyewitnesses said commuters waiting on the platform had yelled at Pendkar, asking him to move away, but there was no response. The 20-year-old was dragged by the engine for at least 100m, they added.
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