A day after the death of four teenagers who were run over by a train, allegedly while clicking selfies on the railway track near Basai Dhankot station, relatives and family of two of the boys said they had been going to the railway tracks for past 2-3 days to make videos for social media.
Police said all of them were friends and lived close to each other at Devi Lal colony. All four of them were minors, aged 15, 16, and 17.
Raja, a cousin of the 15-year-old, said the boys had been going to the tracks at sunset for the past three days to record reels for their Instagram accounts. “The security guard at the construction site near the tracks told us he had warned them it was dangerous as several trains pass through, but they continued to click photographs and of passing trains,” said Raja, as he showed an Instagram video of his cousin walking on the railway track, with a song playing in the background. The video was uploaded on his cousin’s Instagram account two days ago.
Another minor had uploaded a picture of himself sitting on the track recently.
Mohammad Irshad, a labourer, whose 16-year-old son was among the deceased, said his son got a phone call from a friend around 4 pm and went to meet him.
“I was asleep at the time. He was studying in class IX and we had given him a mobile phone since classes had been going online due to Covid. I was not aware that he was so active on social media or uploaded pictures sitting on railway tracks. All children these days use social media,” said Irshad.
Irshad added that he was informed of the incident by a neighbour, whose son had also died.
“When my son did not return to attend his coaching class, I tried calling him, but his phone was not reachable. We kept looking for him for an hour before police contacted us,” he said.
Parvez, the maternal grandfather of the 15-year-old boy, said his grandson worked at a garments shop. “He left at 4 pm yesterday, saying that he was going out to play. We were not aware that he was going near railway tracks,” he said.
Government Railway Police (GRP) said a preliminary probe has found that the boys were run over by Jan Shatabdi Express (12066) that was going from Sarai Rohilla, Delhi to Ajmer. “At 5.05 pm, the train passes from Basai Dhankot station. The four boys had taken a scooter from one of their relatives and were clicking selfies on a track when a goods train arrived and blared its horn. It seems the boys saw the goods train and were about to switch to another track when the passenger train ran them over. All four were killed at the spot and their bodies were mutilated,” said a police officer.
Police said they recovered only one SIM card from the spot. “The incident is so tragic. Four lives snuffed out… Our entire lane is in mourning,” added Irshad. Police said the bodies were handed over to their families after the post-mortem on Wednesday.