123 Kolkata: The Railway Claims Tribunal, Kolkata Bench, recently directed DRM Kharagpur KR Choudhury to pay Rs 25,000 from his salary for filing "a false and fabricated report" in a compensation case, which tried to pass off a deceased person as a trespasser who died while crossing the tracks.
In the judgment of Sanjiv Dutt Sharma, member (judicial), Railway Claims Tribunal, Kolkata, on Nov 29, it was stated, "It is proved on file that the DRM and his staff tampered with the documents and did their best to suppress the truth from this Tribunal. It is very shocking that the officer of DRM rank is indulging in such types of activities."
The Tribunal further granted Rs 8 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased, which includes his wife and two daughters. The deceased, according to his wife's submissions, was travelling from Ramrajatala to Shyamchak with a valid second-class railway ticket when he fell off the train at Shyamchak station due to "sudden jerk and overcrowding" on Sept 16, 2022.
The wife, however, could not produce the ticket and claimed that it was lost after the accident. The respondent authorities, central govt represented through South Eastern Railway general manager, opposed the application by citing the DRM report that the man was a trespasser who died while "crossing railway tracks" at Howrah-end of Shyamchak yard platform number two.
However, to substantiate the same, evidence from the guard and driver of train, who are the prima facie evidence to prove the case of the respondent, was not produced. Furthermore, the Tribunal took note of the Final Police Report of Kharagpur GRPS, which stated that, as per witnesses, the man died due to falling from the train. The autopsy surgeon opined that death was "due to the effect of injuries" as noted in the PM report, which was "ante-mortem in nature".
Even the post commander of RPF Panskura, in their letter to senior DSC Kharagpur, said the deceased fell while trying to board the moving train and died. According to them, it happened "due to his own negligence".
DRM Kharagpur was given the liberty to recover Rs 25,000 from erring officials after an inquiry.