(Top) Mondal & Pramanik: Recounting horror (Pictures by Aranya Sen)

Calcutta, April 10: The body of a youth, which the police believe is that of the passenger pushed out of the ladies? compartment of a local train by a travelling ticket examiner yesterday, was found today.

Giving a detailed account of the incident, a woman travelling in the compartment told The Telegraph that the passenger had a valid ticket but was pulled up by ticket examiners because he was in a women?s compartment. He was asked to pay a fine of Rs 250.

The body of Deepak Paswan, 25, was found lying beside the track between Andul and Sankrail stations in South Eastern Railway?s Howrah-Kharagpur section. A government railway police (GRP) patrolling team saw it early this morning. It was the same spot where the passenger had fallen from the running Howrah-Mecheda local last evening, after a scuffle with the ticket checker, Sheikh Samiruddin.

?We are investigating the case. Once the formalities are over, we might frame murder charges against the TTE (ticket examiner),? said Jit Ram Bhagat, the additional director-general of police, railways.

Senior GRP officials said they would interrogate the passengers who were travelling in the ladies? compartment. ?We will also interrogate the TTE and show him Paswan?s photograph,? said S.S. Panda, superintendent of railway police, Kharagpur.

Samiruddin, who was brutally beaten up by the passengers, mostly women, at Nalpara, is now in South Eastern Railway?s Central Hospital in Garden Reach.

Paswan was from Jharkhand and worked as a cook in the Railway Protection Force mess at Santragachi, said Panda.

His cousin lodged a complaint with the GRP, saying his brother fell from the train after a scuffle with the TTE.

Lakshmi Bala Mondal, travelling from Howrah to Abada, said the youth jumped into the compartment when the train was leaving the platform of Ramrajatala station.

?There was a team of five ticket examiners inside the compartment. When the youth boarded the train, they asked him to show his ticket,? Mondal said. He showed it.

?However, they asked him to pay a fine of Rs 250 for travelling in the ladies? compartment,? she recounted.

As the train rolled on, an argument started between the passenger and the ticket examiners. ?The compartment was crowded but we could hear them. They were shouting at the youth and threatening to put him behind bars if he did not pay up,? she said. After the train left Andul station a lady hawker standing at the door shouted ?they have thrown him out of the train, they have killed him?.

The passengers asked the ticket examiners what happened. They said: ?We do not know anything.? Mondal said: ?They pointed at one TTE (Samiruddin) and said he knew what happened.?

As the dumfounded passengers took time to react, four ticket examiners jumped out of the train at Sankrail station and disappeared, Mondal said. Samiruddin could not.

?When I got down at Abada, I saw several accusing him of throwing the youth out of the train. He received a few blows and was dragged into the compartment as the train was about to leave,? Mondal said.

The train entered Nalpur station at 6.30 pm and Samiruddin was pulled down.

?We saw 50 to 60 women coming out of the train shouting that he pushed out someone. Others joined them in the thrashing soon,? recounted Uttam Pramanik, a tea-stall owner at Nalpur.

?We went to rescue the TTE and saw him taking shelter under a seat, blood oozing from wounds on his face. The women again started beating him up,? he said.

When Pramanik entered the scene, the women charged at them. But Samiruddin was rescued. Officials said they would interrogate him tomorrow, if he is able to speak.