Pregnant Odisha woman thrown off moving train; police launch manhunt

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Rayagada, May 27:

A day after a pregnant woman was thrown off a moving train, Odisha police today launched a manhunt to nab the accused husband who has been absconding since the hair-raising incident that led to delivery of stillborn child on the tracks.

The Rayagada police have formed an investigating team that has been despatched to the couple’s hometown, Rourkela, to apprehend the accused.

“As per our information, her husband pushed her out of the train. She is undergoing treatment now. A case was lodged in Rayagada Police Station in this regard and it is being investigated by Tikri Police station now. The accused, who is on the run, went on the same train from which he pushed his wife out. We have sent a team to nab him,” said Y Jagannath Rao, SDPO of Rayagada.

The woman, identified as Sarojini, in the third trimester of her pregnancy, was travelling to their hometown in Rourkela from Koraput by Jagdalpur-Howrah Koraput Express along with her husband. Her husband Suraj Kerketa had forced her out of the running train near Rauli railway station between Koraput and Rayagada following a heated argument over a phone call he was having with another girl.

“He was talking to a girl over phone and I asked him who he was talking to since so long. We had a minor fight. He called me to the door and pushed me out of the moving train,” alleged Sarojini, undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Her condition is stable now, said the doctors attending to her.

The profusely bleeding woman gave birth to a stillborn child on the railway track near Rauli railway station, about 60 KM from Rayagada yesterday. She was later rescued by Government Railway Police (GRP) and rushed to the Rayagada government hospital in a critical condition.  The woman narrated the sequence of events to the cops after regaining consciousness.