The family of 22-year-old Mayank Lohar, who was stabbed to death inside a Mumbai local train following a dispute over whether the doors should be kept open during heavy rain, has demanded the death penalty for the accused, saying nothing short of the harshest punishment would deliver justice.
"We want justice. The punishment should be the death penalty. I have also lost everything, so the punishment should be death," Mayank's grieving sister said, as the family mourned the young man's death.
Mayank was killed aboard a Mumbai suburban train after an argument over whether the doors of the overcrowded local train should remain open during heavy rain. CCTV footage of the aftermath showed the accused, Sachin Ramesh Suvarna, holding a bloodstained knife inside the packed coach while the victim lay motionless in a pool of blood.
Police arrested the 30-year-old accused within 24 hours of the crime following an extensive manhunt that involved examining footage from more than 400 CCTV cameras across multiple railway stations.
The incident took place around 10.50 pm on Tuesday inside the first-class compartment of the Churchgate–Nallasopara fast local train as it travelled between Andheri and Borivali stations, according to the Government Railway Police (GRP).
Police said an argument broke out among passengers over whether the train doors should remain open or closed, as rainwater was entering the compartment. The verbal altercation escalated when the accused allegedly pulled out a sharp weapon and stabbed Mayank in the chest and abdomen.
Mayank collapsed inside the coach, while the accused jumped off the moving train near Borivali station before it came to a halt and fled.
Railway officials, along with personnel from the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF), rushed to the compartment soon after the train reached Borivali. Mayank was taken to the station's emergency medical room before being shifted to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
By Wednesday morning, videos of the aftermath had gone viral, sparking widespread outrage and renewed concerns over passenger safety on Mumbai's suburban rail network. A murder case was subsequently registered.
To trace the accused, the railway police formed seven special investigation teams comprising personnel from railway police stations and the Western Railway crime branch.
Investigators analysed footage from more than 400 CCTV cameras installed at Borivali, Andheri, Mira Road and Nallasopara railway stations, as well as surveillance cameras at nearby entry and exit points.
Based on technical analysis, CCTV footage and intelligence inputs, police identified the suspect as Sachin Ramesh Suvarna, a resident of Mira Road East. He was arrested from the Panvel area of Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
According to police, Suvarna returned home after the incident and told his father that he had been involved in an altercation on a local train. Fearing arrest, he allegedly left home around midnight with plans to flee Mumbai before investigators tracked him down.
Police said the murder weapon is yet to be recovered and the accused is being interrogated.
The incident marks the second fatal stabbing on Mumbai's Western Railway suburban network this year. In February, a 32-year-old college lecturer was allegedly stabbed during an altercation while attempting to alight from a train at Malad station. Police had arrested the accused in that case as well.
The latest killing has once again raised concerns over passenger safety on Mumbai's suburban railway network, with Mayank's family demanding the strictest punishment for the accused and urging authorities to take stronger measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
Source: India Today