A 30-year-old man accused in an abetment-to-suicide case in Telangana died after allegedly jumping off a moving train near Vangani in Maharashtra on Tuesday evening. Following the incident, a team of Telangana Police officers escorting him has come under scrutiny.
According to the Government Railway Police (GRP), the deceased has been identified as Prakash Jaleshwar Rai, a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Rai was being escorted by two Telangana Police officers from Surat to Hyderabad when he reportedly fell from the Rajkot–Secunderabad Express between Kalyan and Karjat stations.
Rai was wanted in a case registered in April this year, where he was accused of abetting the suicide of a 25-year-old woman in Telangana. Police said Rai had moved to Dundigal in Telangana for work, where he entered into a relationship with the woman.
When the woman became pregnant and demanded marriage, Rai allegedly refused, citing that he was already married in Bihar and had two children. Following this rejection, the woman took her own life. Her family later lodged a complaint against Rai at Dundigal Police Station.
A case under Section 45 (abetment of suicide) of the BNS was registered against Rai. After months of search, he was traced to Surat, Gujarat. A police inspector and a constable from Telangana arrested him on Monday and were bringing him back to Hyderabad by train when the incident occurred on Tuesday.
The alleged fall took place near Vangani railway crossing on Tuesday evening.
Initially, the Telangana Police informed the GRP that Rai had jumped off the train to commit suicide. However, in a subsequent statement, the officers claimed that Rai leapt from the train while trying to escape custody.
The Karjat GRP has registered two separate cases — one Accidental Death Report (ADR) and another based on the Telangana Police’s statement. A senior GRP officer confirmed that the Maharashtra State CID (Crime Investigation Department) has now taken over the probe.
Rai’s body was sent to JJ Hospital in Mumbai for post-mortem examination. A relative from Bihar has been called to identify the body.