Bhubaneswar, May 27: Rayagada police are on the look out for a man who allegedly pushed off his pregnant wife from a running train. The incident took place at Rauli station between Koraput and Rayagada yesterday.

Sources said the couple fought over a trivial issue that killed their yet-to-be-born child.

The railway police rescued the woman who gave birth to a stillborn child on the railway tracks and admitted her in the Rayagada district headquarters hospital. Doctors at the hospital said the woman's condition was stable.

Reacting to the incident, Tikiri police in Rayagada registered a case against Suraj Kerketta, who is absconding. Officials said since the train was going towards Rourkela, Kerketta managed to escape from the spot.

Y. Jagannath Rao, the sub-divisional police officer of Rayagada, said: "The woman and her husband had a quarrel over some petty issues and the accused shoved his wife from the moving train. She fell down on the tracks and sustained injuries to her body. Unfortunately, she also gave birth to a dead infant."

"We have registered a case following the complaint lodged by the woman and are searching for Kerketta. A team has been constituted and we are conducting raids at various places. We have also recorded the statement of the victim," said Rao.

The victim Sarojini Kerketta said her husband was talking to another woman in the compartment for a long time. When she asked him to stop talking to the woman, he got extremely angry and pushed her from the train.

"We had a quarrel since he was talking to another woman. He did not likemy protest and got furious. He pushed me off the train," said Sarojini, who was in her third trimester of her pregnancy.

The couple had gone to Koraput to one of their relatives' place four days back and was on their way back to Rourkela, where they reside. They were travelling on the Jagdalpur- Howrah Express.

The incident caused uproar among women activists who blamed the husband and demanded his arrest