Homeguard Vaibhav Bansode tried hard to rescue 65-year-old Govindram Ramchandani as he was dragged away by a suburban town in Mumbai's Byculla station on Tuesday morning. But he failed, and Ramchandani later succumbed to injuries, reports Mumbai Mirror.
Bansode shivers as he recounts the two agonising minutes when he teetered between life and death trying to save the elderly man.
Ramchandani's daughter Jogi Ahuja, 40, managed to pull Bansode to safety, but could not rescue her father.
Bansode was stationed at Platform No. 1 on bag-checking duty when he saw Ramchandani and his daughter Jogi Ahuja rush towards the Titwala local which was about to leave the platform.
Says Bansode, “The train started moving just as Ramchandani managed to push his luggage into the compartment. However, he could not board it. But as he had caught hold of the pole near the door, he was dragged along by the train. His daughter, who was still on the platform, started screaming. Alerted by her, I pounced on Ramchandani, and shouted out to him that he should let go of the pole.”
Things took a dangerous turn when Ramchandani got pulled under the train and Bansode began being dragged along the platform. Then Ahuja, who was running beside the two, pulled Bansode away from the train.
“I had suffered some painful bruises on my hands. But when I saw Ahuja trying to jump in to save her father, I stood up and held her back. Meanwhile, the train came to a halt and I rushed to call for an ambulance. I had risked my life to save Ramchandani, but sadly, I could not,” Bansode added.
Railway police staff pulled Ramchandani out and rushed him to a nearby hospital. He succumbed on his way to hospital because of severe injuries.
Ramchandani had a cataract operation a week ago at a private hospital and had been resting at his sister's home in Byculla.
On Tuesday, he was going back to his Ulhasnagar home along with his daughter, when the mishap took place.
Ramchandani was a shopkeeper and leaves behind four daughters and a son.
