The railway authorities have claimed that the man who died after falling off a moving train reserved for women on Tuesday was not pushed.
"The man was asked to get off at the next station and he agreed. But he apparently panicked and jumped off the train," said V.K. Dhaka, inspector general-cum-chief security commissioner, Eastern Railway.
Multiple reports on Tuesday said a group of passengers and a woman RPF constable kept pushing Deepak Sharma, 35, off the train when he rammed into a lamp post and fell. The train had just left Uttarpara station.
An hour later the police removed the body of the Hind Motor Station Road resident.
Sharma's father Madanlal has lodged a complaint with the Belur GRP, alleging on-duty RPF cops pushed him off the train.
Dhaka, however, said on Wednesday: "Preliminary investigations suggest there was no assault (on the man) by any passenger or RPF personnel."
A woman who was travelling in the compartment said the man was "confronted by a group of women and cops".
The 27-year old woman told Metro on the condition of anonymity that after Sharma had boarded the moving train at Uttarpara, he was confronted by two women cops, a constable and an inspector.
Women cops stand at the doors of Matribhumi locals to prevent males from boarding the trains.
"I was standing near a door in the second compartment from the rear. The man (Sharma) boarded the moving train at Uttarpara. The woman cops and a group of passengers asked him why he had boarded a train reserved for women," the woman said.
The compartment, she said, was not crowded but no seat was empty.
Soon after, she heard a loud noise and then a commotion.
"I saw a few passengers beat up some other passengers and the two cops in the coach," she said. She moved closer to the group to find out the reason for the assault.
By then, the train had reached Hind Motor station and the women and the cops who were being assaulted were dragged out. Others on the platform joined in the assault, the witness said.
"The assaulters were saying the cops and the other woman had pushed the man off the moving train. They were trying to deny the allegations but no one listened to them," the woman said.
The constable, Rajanigandha Naskar, is admitted to BR Singh Hospital in Sealdah. Eastern Railway officials said she was suffering from respiratory distress and was under observation.
The inspector, and a sub-inspector who was assaulted at Hind Motor station, too, are admitted to Howrah Orthopaedic Hospital.
A man travelling on a train reserved for women is an offence, punishable with a fine of Rs 1,000.
Irate commuters blocked the tracks at Hind Motor and Uttarpara stations for several hours demanding the arrest of those responsible for the man's death.
The twin blockades left thousands of passengers stranded at Howrah and several other stations and resulted in the death of a man.
Bhadreshwar resident Jung Bahadur Yadav, a milkman by profession, slumped while waiting for the service to resume at Howrah station. Other passengers alerted the police, who took him to Howrah District Hospital. He was declared dead on arrival.
As for Sharma's death, Pijush Kanti Roy, the officer-in-charge of Belur GRP, said: "We have received a complaint and started a probe."
Neighbours said Sharma used to work in a private firm in Calcutta. The family stays in a rented two-room apartment on the ground floor of a two-storeyed building.
On Tuesday, Sharma had left home for office around 3.30pm. "In the evening, he called his mother from Uttarpara station saying he got her medicine and was returning home," a neighbour said.