Infant survives after mother jumps off train

Mumbai: Central Railway (CR) and Government Railway Police (GRP) have initiated a search for relatives of a deceased woman (30) who allegedly jumped off the Vashi bridge from a moving train along with her ten-month-old child on Sunday night.

The woman fell on the tracks and died as she mistimed her jump however the child survived with severe head injuries after getting trapped on the tracks. The woman, Rasika Arjun Khamkar, has been identified as a resident of Haveli taluka, Pune, on the basis of her identity card found in her purse, GRP is searching for her husband to hand over the child, Ananya Arjun Khamkar. Ananya was identified on the basis of certain papers found in Rasika’s purse and is being treated at civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar.

At around 12.05 am on Monday, as the Mumbai CST-Panvel Harbour local was crossing the Vashi bridge, a woman passenger informed the GRP escort constable that she had seen a lady jump off the train. The GRP constable immediately contacted GRP-helpline at Churchgate which in turn informed Vashi GRP and Navi Mumbai police, who rushed to the spot. Ritesh Aher, GRP spokesperson, said, “Police found that the woman was lying in a pool of blood near the tracks with her baby. Both were rushed to hospital. But the woman was declared dead before admission. Further investigation is on and we are looking for the girl’s father.” Vashi GRP is investigating the case. While Rasika had intended to jump into the creek, she fell on the railway tracks instead and died on the spot due to head injuries whereas Ananya escaped with minor injuries.  

Dr Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent, Rajawadi Hospital, said, “We have admitted the baby into trauma care – she is serious as she has sustained multiple head injuries.”

“Her mother was brought dead. We are trying to take care of the baby who is on saline and under observation. We will be conducting MRI-scan to rule out internal injuries,” said Dr Thakur.