Ticket Examiner Charged in Death of Navy Officer's Wife on UP Train: Conflicting Testimonies Emerge

The victim, Arti Yadav, was traveling in the sleeper coach of a Patna-Anand Vihar special train when the incident occurred.

New Delhi:

A ticket examiner has been charged in connection with the death of a Navy officer's wife who fell from a moving Patna-Anand Vihar special train near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, officials confirmed on Friday.

The deceased woman's family has accused the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) of pushing her from the moving train, resulting in an FIR being registered at the Government Railway Police (GRP) office in Etawah on Thursday.

However, officials noted that at least five co-passengers have provided written statements to the Railways defending the TTE, claiming the woman jumped voluntarily after being asked to relocate to the general compartment because she held a ticket for a different train.

According to reports, Arti Yadav boarded the sleeper coach of the Patna-Anand Vihar special train around 7:30 am from Kanpur on Tuesday. Approximately two hours later, at 9:30 am, Travelling Ticket Examiner Santosh Kumar entered the coach and requested to see her ticket.

Anchal Srivastava, a passenger occupying berth number 4 where Arti Yadav had seated herself, provided a written statement to the Railways saying: "The lady admitted she had a ticket for another train. The TTE instructed her to move to the general coach. She responded that she would disembark at the next station."

Srivastava continued, "When the TTE repeated his request for her to relocate to the general coach, she threatened to jump from the train. After making this statement, she collected her bag and jumped from the train near Bharthna station."

Another passenger, Raj Vaibhav Singh, corroborated Srivastava's account, adding that the woman threw her Aadhaar card toward the TTE before grabbing her bag and jumping from the train, as the coach door was situated close to her seat.

"I was seated at berth number 20, but upon hearing the exchange between the TTE and the woman, I approached the berth to understand the situation," Raj told PTI.

Three additional passengers occupying nearby berths who witnessed the incident have provided similar written testimonies.

However, contradicting these accounts, Yadav's husband, Ajay Singh, who serves in the Indian Navy, alleges that his wife was forcibly pushed from the speeding train by the TTE following a disagreement.

"The TTE pushed her out of the moving train. Her bag was discovered 4 km away from her body. Her mobile phone remains missing. Her back sustained severe injuries, while the front of her body showed no injury marks. This indicates foul play," Singh told PTI from her village in Kanpur Dehat.

When informed about co-passengers claiming she jumped voluntarily, Singh questioned their credibility, stating, "I learned that one co-passenger, Raj Vaibhav Singh, had called the railway helpline 139 to report the TTE's inappropriate behavior toward my wife. Yet strangely, he has now altered his statement."

Singh further reasoned, "Kanpur, where she boarded, and Bharthna, where her body was found, are approximately 130 km apart. If suicide was her intention, why would she wait so long? She could have acted soon after the train gained speed."

He also mentioned that his wife had recently traveled alone from Mumbai to Kanpur without incident and denied she was experiencing any mental distress.

"I urge the GRP to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter," he said.

In his statement, TTE Kumar claimed the victim initially stated she possessed an AC class ticket for another train (No. 02563) and attempted to display it on her phone, but he could only identify the train number.

He maintained that he simply asked her to move to the general coach, after which she threw her Aadhaar card at him, collected her bag, and jumped from the train.