Mumbai: A case of children running away from home has taken a tragic turn. Two teenage brothers, officials suspect, ended their lives on the railway tracks near Vasai after they had run away from home when confronted by their mother about stealing money in March. Two weeks after they went missing, their bodies were found in a mangled state on the tracks.
On March 16, Pravin Gupta (16) and Arun Gupta (13) were reported to be missing from their Nalasopara (east) house. In the morning, their mother, Shubhavati, had enquired them about a missing sum of Rs 6,000 from the house and a new phone that she found on Pravin. In her police statement, she said, “I became suspicious after I saw a brand new mobile phone in Pravin’s hands and also couldn’t find Rs 6,000 in cash which was kept at home. I then found the ATM card also missing and asked them about it.” She said she called up the bank to report about the ATM card and was informed that there had been transactions reported on the same. “Rs 37,000 had been withdrawn from the account using the card. That’s when I understood it had been used to buy the phone,” she told the Tulinj police. The police then registered a kidnapping case and started investigating the case.
On Sunday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) received information about two bodies being found on the railway tracks near Vasai. Preliminary reports identified the bodies as that of Pravin and Arun. GRP officials say that some eyewitnesses saw two people holding hands and lying down on the tracks.
Officials revealed that the youngsters allegedly could not handle the embarrassment after being scolded and might have taken the extreme step. They are trying to ascertain whether there was any foul play in the incident and the exact reason for them to end their lives. The police is also trying to find out where the children were since the time they went missing. No suicide note was found on the person of the youngsters.
The Vasai Road GRP has recorded the case as that of an accidental death and has now transferred the case to the Tulinj police station.
