Penniless, hungry for 5 days, he did reach home...dead

LUCKNOW: Kanhaiya, 29, a migrant labourer, died hours before reaching home in Baijwari village of Sitapur district, on Saturday. Government Railway Police (GRP) said Kanhaiya was found unresponsive on board the Bastibound Shramik Express (09491) just before Charbagh Railway Station. The train was bringing migrant labourers from Bhavnagar, Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh.

But Kanhaiya’s co-passengers were left searching for words as they tried explaining the tragedy. “Bahut khush tha Kanhaiya. Keh raha tha poore 6 mahine baad ghar ja raha hoon. Ghar pahuchte hi ghar ka khana khaunga (Kanhaiya was very happy. He said he was going home after 6 months and that he would eat homecooked food as soon as he reached home,” said a passenger who was sharing the berth with Kanhaiya.

His family members couldn’t believe that he was no more. “Bhai ka phone aaya tha, keh raha tha 5 din se kuch khaya nahi. Hum logon ne kaha ki kisi tarah ghar aa jao. Kal phone aya tha keh raha tha ghar aa raha hoon. (Brother called me a few days back. He said that he hadn’t eaten anything for the last five days. We told him to come back home. On Friday he called saying he had managed to board the train and was coming home,” said Pramod Kumar, Kanhaiya’s elder brother, speaking on the phone.

Kumar said his mother too is not responding, ever since she heard of Kanhaiya’s death. He said that with great difficulty they had managed to arrange a vehicle to bring them to Lucknow. At the time of speaking to HT, they had reached Kursi Road, on the outskirts of Lucknow.

“As the train was approaching Charbagh Railway station, we got information that a passenger was not responding and was unconscious. We rushed to check the passenger as the train reached Charbagh Railway Station at around 3:30pm and found him dead. We didn’t retrieved much from his possession except a wallet, a phone, a non-Covid 19 certificate and few ID cards,” said GRP (Charbagh) inspector Somveer

Singh. “We have sent the body for a post-mortem examination and have informed his family members to come and complete the formalities,” Singh added.

Some passengers said Kanhaiya had stopped responding a few hours before reaching Charbagh Railway Station after which the alarm was raised and GRP was informed.

Kanhaiya had gone to Bhavnagar almost six months back and was set to return home in March. But following the lockdown, he couldn’t undertake the journey.

An empty wallet, a certificate certifying him as Covid-19 negative, a non-branded mobile, an Aadhaar card and a voter ID card was recovered from his possession, police said.