Tinsukia: A woman's body was found in a toilet of the Dibrugarh-Delhi 15909 Avadh-Assam Express at Mariani railway station in Jorhat district around 2pm on Wednesday. This is the second murder to have taken place on two consecutive days on the Upper Assam rail route.
A senior officer of the railway police said the body of the woman, suspected to be in her forties, was found lying on the floor of the toilet of SLR (seating-cum-luggage) coach number 03707 in a semi-clad condition after the train arrived at Mariani station. The woman's neck was tied to a water pipe of the toilet with a gamosa and blood was oozing from her nose.
"The victim is suspected to have been raped and then strangulated with the gamosa. We have seized the gamosa," he said, adding that passenger Bales Jaswinder, who saw the body on entering the compartment as soon as the train arrived at Mariani, immediately informed the train's driver, Surendra Rongpi.
Sources said police identified the victim as Lalima Devi, a resident of Dibrugarh, after recovering her money bag. "She was travelling from Banipur railway station in Dibrugarh to Bihar. The Jorhat superintendent of police has contacted her son. A mobile has also been recovered but it was not working," a source added.
However, there was no official confirmation. The Jorhat superintendent of police could not be contacted.
Nobody has been arrested yet but the hand of the person involved in Tuesday's murder is suspected.
A second-year student of the College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, was found murdered in the toilet of Dibrugarh-Rangia Express on Tuesday morning. (See Metro)
"The murder is a repeat of Tuesday's incident, the only difference being that the first took place between Sivasagar and Simaluguri and the second between Simaluguri and Mariani (a distance of 54km). Preliminary investigation suggests the same modus operandi, hinting towards the involvement of the same man," the railway police officer said.
Senior railway police officials were travelling in 15909 Avadh Assam Express to attend a high-level meeting at Simaluguri in Sivasagar district over Tuesday's murder. The meeting of senior police and railway officials was held on Wednesday.
Sources said senior police officials, including Jorhat superintendent of police, were at Mariani railway station to investigate Wednesday's murder.
"The coach, in which the body was recovered, was detached by investigators from Avadh-Assam Express before it left Mariani for Delhi after a delay of almost one-and-a half hours from it original departure time of 1.56pm. So far, we have no eyewitness," the railway police officer said.
Two murders on two Express trains on the Upper Assam route on two consecutive days has triggered concern for commuters, especially women, travelling alone.
"A high-level joint investigation by Assam police and railway police is under way. We have decided to provide additional escort in trains and to monitor coaches with less commuters," Tinsukia railway divisional manager Ram Bahadur Rai, under whose jurisdiction Simaluguri and Mariani stations fall, said.
Additional reporting by Devajit Baruah in Jorhat