A woman guard was found dead along the rail track near Gudiyatham in Chennai Division on Tuesday. Hours after B. Minimol, who was on duty on 12510 Guwahati-Bengaluru Superfast Express was reported missing, her body was found by railway workers with a grievous head injury.
According to sources in Southern Railway, after Ms. Minimol failed to exchange signals with the Station Masters at the Valathoor and Melpatti stations, the tri-weekly train was forced to stop at Pachakuppam. When railway employees checked the Guard’s Cabin, she was found missing.
An alert was sent to the Gudiyatham station where Ms. Minimol was last seen exchanging signals. Keyman Gautham Kumar, who was on patrol duty, informed that the body of the guard in uniform was found along the track with a green flag. Para-medical personnel, who arrived in ‘108’ ambulance, confirmed that she was dead. The body was shifted to hospital for post-mortem, the sources said.
Committee to probe
Southern Railway has constituted a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of Minimol. The guard coach was detached from the train to check if the door lock, the hook and the hand rails were in working condition.
Parrying questions on concerns reportedly shared by some railway employees that Ms. Minimol was visibly stressed on Monday and had expressed her difficulties in performing continuous duties without adequate rest, a senior railway official said the guard might have had an accidental fall. The running staff members were being given rest as per rules.
“It is too early to confirm or deny anything. As of now, there is no evidence of sabotage. The inquiry committee will probe all aspects and submit its findings soon,” he said.
The train was stopped as per the railway rules, which state that any failure on the part of the loco pilot and/or the guard to exchange signals with the station staff shall at once be reported to the Station Master of the next station in advance, who shall arrange for the train to stop and hand over a written warning to the defaulting staff, railway sources said.
