It was a regular work shift for RPF constable K. Shivaji on Monday, as he and his colleagues took the last MRTS train around 11.10 p.m. and checked all the stations. He had no foreboding of what was to come, but a drama soon unfolded. In an action-packed sequence of events, he jumped out of a moving train in order to rescue a young woman from rape and to nab the perpetrator.
Train 41140 left the Velachery station at 11.10 p.m. and reached Chintadripet station at around 11.40 p.m. An RPF patrolling team headed by sub-inspector Subbiah and two constables, including Mr. Shivaji, were on the train. “I was in the second compartment from the engine. The train left Chintadripet and was heading towards Park Station. I heard the sound of a woman shrieking, but I could not get down then. When the train entered Park station, I got down from the running train and jumped into the third compartment,” recalled Mr. Shivaji.
Inside, he saw a man trying to rape a woman and immediately jumped on him.
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“I dragged him away. Seeing me, he tried to escape. But I managed to push him down and applied a leglock and prevented him from moving,” he added.
By then, the woman had got up and he noticed that there was blood on her mouth. “She fell unconscious on the seat and did not wake up despite me sprinkling water on her face,” he explained.
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The other members of his team rushed her to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and, from there, she was taken to a hospital in Egmore, where she is recuperating.
Accused nabbed
Meanwhile, the police nabbed Sathyaraj, 26, of Velachery.
“He is an electrician and boarded the train at Velachery. He was on his way to Central to meet a friend. Upon seeing a woman alone in the train, he tried to rape her,” said a police officer. The police are checking to see if he has any other cases against him.
The police said the 25-year-old woman had come to the city to study in an Industrial Training Institute after completing Class X in Salem. “She said she came to Guindy to hunt for a job. She apparently got into the MRTS train from Lighthouse station and was planning to get down at Park station and take a train from Central to Salem,” said a police officer.
Police said they had not been able to ascertain her hometown so far.
“Sometimes, she says it’s Vyasarpadi and some other times she says Vazhapadi. She does not have a phone or any other documents to help us find her address,” added the officer. Further investigation is on.