Muzaffarpur, Jan. 6: A 60-year-old poor man had to pay with his life for boarding a wrong train on Tuesday night.

The horrific incident came to light when Rameshwar Mandal, a resident of a sleepy hamlet, Gaitha, in Madhepura district of Bihar, and his wife Gulki Devi (50) were thrown off a running train by a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) at Allahabad railway station. The incident was in sharp contrast to what happened on February 14, 2007, when Lalu’s parents-in-laws, Shiv Prasad Choudhary and Sripati Devi, were caught without tickets in an AC coach of the Sampark Kranti Express near Chhapra railway station. No action was taken against the duo.

Mandal and his wife had gone to Allahabad and Hardwar on pilgrimage. The couple were supposed to board a train from Allahabad railway station on their way to Raniganj in Bengal, where their daughter stays before proceeding to Ganga Sagar for Makar Sankranti. Around 10pm, clutching valid general class tickets in hand, the couple boarded a Mumbai-bound train by mistake at Allahabad station.

Just as the train started pulling out of the station, the TTE arrived to check the tickets. On seeing the wrong tickets, he chided them for boarding the wrong train, ordering them to jump off at once. Mandal pleaded innocence because of old age.

The TTE, Gulki later stated in an FIR with Government Railway Police, Muzaffarpur, later, dragged them to the door and pushed them off the running train. Mandal sustained injuries in his head and body kept writhing in pain at the outer signal of Allahabad railway station.

Devi told The Telegraph that a railway guard spotted them and helped them back to the platform around 10.30pm. Railway officials helped the duo board the 5268 Up Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Raxaul Junction Jansadharan Express. Mandal succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of Thursday on the train. When the train reached Sonepur railway station, railway officials rushed in and confirmed the death. Gulki Devi later lodged an unnamed FIR against railway officials, including the TTE, with GRP, Muzaffarpur.

Confirming the FIR, Muzaffarpur GRP station house officer Pramod Kumar said: “Gulki Devi, in her FIR, has charged the unidentified TTE and railway officials for pushing them from the running train. She has also charged that her husband died of head injuries sustained after falling on the railway tracks.”

The SHO said the FIR would be forwarded to the GRP, Allahabad for further investigation. Mandal’s body has been sent for post-mortem. The GRP would send Mandal’s body to Gaitha village thereafter.