Mumbai: The mortal remains of Railway Protection Force Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tikaram Meena, gunned down allegedly by a junior colleague, were wrapped in the tricolour and dispatched to his native place in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan for last rites by a train after tributes were paid to him by senior RPF officials on Tuesday.
A senior officer told PTI that RPF jawans brought Meena’s body wrapped in the tricolour in a coffin from state-run JJ Hospital and took it to Mumbai Central where a wreath laying ceremony was held in presence of top officials of the Railway force. Tributes were paid to the slain ASI at the ceremony.
Four persons — Meena (58) and three train passengers — were shot dead allegedly by RPF constable Chetan Singh, who joined the force on compensatory grounds in 2009, on board the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express in the wee hours of Monday near Palghar station.
A Western Railway (WR) spokesperson said the body of ASI Meena, who was due to retire in two years, was sent to Rajasthan, his native state, on Tuesday morning by (Bandra Terminus-Amritsar) Paschim Express as desired by his family members.
The RPF officer said a team of personnel of the force was accompanying the mortal remains to Sawai Madhopur and they will carry them to his native place from the railway station for the last rites.
Sumit Thakur, WR chief spokesperson, said authorities have identified the third deceased train passenger whose personal details were not available on Monday.
They gave his name as Sayyad Saifuddin, originally a resident of Bidar in Karnataka who had settled in Hyderabad, where he had a shop, he said.
Thakur said family members of Saifuddin have been contacted and they were on their way to Mumbai to claim his body.
The victim had gone to Ajmer and was returning to Mumbai when he was shot dead in the train.
“The fourth victim of the #JaipurExpressTerrorAttack has been identified as Syed Saifullah. He was a resident of Bazaarghat, Nampally (Hyderabad). He is survived by 3 daughters, the youngest is just 6 months old. AIMIM Nampally MLA @Jaffarhusainmla is with the family for the past few hours & coordinating with officials to bring the deceased’s body to Hyderabad. Request @TelanganaCMO @KTRBRS to support the bereaved family in these tough times,” tweeted Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM president, on Tuesday evening.
Thakur said they have already transferred ex gratia amount in the bank accounts of family members of the two victims, who were identified on Monday itself, and the same will be done with the third passenger on completion of necessary formalities.
“An ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh has been announced for the passengers who died in this unfortunate incident. The family of ASI Tikaram will receive dues as per service rules,” a statement from the Western Railway said earlier.
The other two deceased were identified by the Railway police as Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (58), a resident of Nalasopara in Palghar district, and Asgar Abbas Sheikh (48), a resident of Madhubani district in Bihar.
On Monday, the grieving relatives of Asgar Sheikh staged a protest and refused to take possession of his body unless the Railways assured to provide a job to his legal heir and made arrangements for taking the mortal remains to their native place in Madhubani district.
They staged the protest first outside civic-run Shatabdi Hospital in suburban Kandivali on Monday and continued it at JJ Hospital in central Mumbai, where the body was later taken for post-mortem examination, on Tuesday. In the evening, they called off the protest and agreed to claim the body.
“Another day has passed, but there was no response from Railway authorities about our demands. No Railway official came to see or contacted us,” Mohammad Amanullah Sheikh, younger brother of Asgar Sheikh, told PTI and added they are in the process of taking possession of the body.
He said with the help of some organisations they will now carry the body to Bihar by a plane on Wednesday morning.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Marziya Sharif | 
