Mumbai, June 11: For nearly half an hour, Bhavika Mehta sat with her severed leg on the railway tracks near Ambala station waiting for her family to find her, after a thief dragged her out of a running train. A Bhiwandi resident, Bhavika (24) had been on a holiday with her parents and extended family when the horrific incident took place last week. On Saturday, she was admitted to the ICCU of the Raj Hospital at Mulund and is awaiting a surgery.
"She hasn't shed a tear since the incident," her sister, Khyati, told TOI. Bhavika hails from a middle-class family and takes tuitions at home; her father is a businessman. The sisters had gone on a vacation to Kashmir with a group of 20 relatives last month. For their return journey, they had booked tickets on the Golden Mail from Amritsar station for June 5. "We were all booked into different coaches. Bhavika and five other relatives got into a non-AC sleeper coach and soon went off to sleep. Around 1.30 am, Bhavika woke up with a start on realizing that a stranger had snatched her purse. The thief had entered through the door to the coach which the passengers had fastened before going to sleep," said a relative, Bhavesh Sanghani.
Bhavika's seat was close to the door. She got down from the middle berth and followed the thief. But when she confronted him, he pushed her away. "While getting off the train, the thief grabbed Bhavika's hand for support, dragging her out in the process. The train was slowing down as Ambala station was approaching and Bhavika's left leg was crushed under a series of coaches. Hearing her scream for help, her father, Kiran, rushed outside. He jumped off the train to her rescue, fracturing his leg," Bhavesh said. Later, Bhavika's brother too stepped off the running train and suffered bruises.
By then, most of Bhavika's relatives were awake. They pulled the alarm chain and some of them set out to look for the girl. At Ambala station, the cops were alerted about the incident by other passengers. "After walking backwards on the tracks for nearly 3 kms, we found Bhavika sitting near her severed leg. She was dazed," another relative said. She was referred to the PGI at Chandigarh in a critical condition and was treated for three to four days.
"The railways haven't offered us any aid yet and their staff wasn't very co-operative with us either. We spent Rs 1 lakh from our own pocket on arranging for an ambulance to bring Bhavika and my father to Mumbai. Bhavika will undergo a surgery for shaping her left leg which was amputated. My father will undergo an operation on Monday for his injuries," Khyati said. The family registered a complaint with the railway police at Ambala. No arrests have been made.
Bhavika told mediapersons that she expects the railways to compensate her for her loss. "My handbag did not contain many valuables, just a handycam, some cash and some important papers," she said.
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