Malda: Student hit by Vande Bharat, dies on spot

Malda: A class X student, Basanti Mandal, aged 16 years, of Chaklaghat village of Itahar in North Dinajpur was hit by Howrah-bound 22302 Vande Bharat Express on Monday evening near the Samsi Railgate under Chanchal Police Station limits.

The mutilated body of the deceased student was recovered by the police and sent to Malda Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem. Mandal was a student of Kapasia AM High School of Chandanpur in Itahar.

Basanti had gone to visit her elder sister Tumpa Mandal’s house in Nilakantha village for Kali Puja. On Monday around 5 pm, both the sisters and Pandav Mandal, the deceased’s brother-in-law, started on a motorbike to drop Basanti home in Itahar.

At that time, the barrier for the Vande Bharat to pass was down at Samsi rail gate.

Basanti got off the bike and walked a short distance from the Samsi rail gate onto the tracks to attend nature’s call when she was hit by the speeding train. The girl’s body was dismembered on the spot.

Tumpa Mandal broke down in tears at the death of her sister in front of her eyes and said: “My sister was very good in studies. I forbade her from going home today but she insisted on leaving as the school was supposed to open from Tuesday. My husband and I were going to take her home by bike but who knew that such an incident would happen?”

Pandav Mandal said: “Samsi rail gate was pulled down to allow the Vande Bharat train to cross. If the rail gate had not been pulled down, we would have crossed it on the bike.”