A crowd stands in front of the Attiguppe metro station in Bengaluru in the aftermath of the incident, March 21, 2024.
Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V
Bengaluru: A young law student died after jumping before an oncoming metro train in western Bengaluru on Thursday in a case of suspected suicide, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and police officials said.
Authorities battled for nearly two hours to retrieve his body which had been severed from the head. Train services were disrupted on a section of the Purple Line between 2.10 pm and 4.10 pm.
This is the first death on the Bengaluru metro tracks in 12 years. The previous fatality was reported in 2012 when a 16-year-old jumped before a metro train at the MG Road station.
It's unclear what drove 19-year-old Dhruv Jatin Thakkar to suicide. A native of Mumbai, he was a first-year student of the BA LLB programme at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU).
The premier institution said it was "deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden and unexpected demise of one of our students". It described him as "a warm and compassionate person, and a bright and diligent student, well-liked by his peers and faculty."
A police officer close to the investigation said Thakkar stayed in the hostel. His NLSIU peers described him as a "soft-spoken and sensitive person who mostly kept to himself."
Dressed in a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, Thakkar leapt onto the tracks as a Whitefield-bound train pulled into platform number 1 of the Attiguppe metro station at 2.10 pm. He was alone and it's unclear how he reached the metro station from the NLSIU hostel, about 3 km away, police said.
By the time the loco pilot applied emergency brakes, two front coaches of the train ran Thakkar over, Shankar AS, Executive Director (Operations and Maintenance) at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), said.
A doctor at Victoria Hospital, where the body has been taken for post-mortem, said it arrived with the head severed.
Dr Deepak S, the hospital's medical superintendent, said the post-mortem would be conducted on Friday once the family members reached the city.
Police questioned three NLSIU students and five staff members from the BMRCL. They do not suspect any foul play and have opened a case of unnatural death. Further investigations are underway.
BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao told DH: "We are deeply grieved. It's something that we have tried to ensure never happened. If necessary, we will deploy more security guards at the platforms to prevent such incidents in the future."
NLSIU has suspended all classes for the remainder of the week and will hold a condolence meeting at 11 am on Friday, Vice-Chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy said.