Kochi: Mentally-ill youth assaults railway officer at South railway station

Kochi: There was a commotion at the South railway station premises on Tuesday when a mentally unstable youth stormed into the Area Manager’s Office and assaulted a railway welfare officer inside the meeting hall. Stunned co-workers, mainly women, first ran for cover but alerted fellow colleagues at nearby offices who chased the youth and finally trapped him inside the room of a nearby hotel with the help of onlookers.

The incident happened at 2.20 pm, minutes before Area Manager Dr Rajesh Chandran returned to the office after being away on an official assignment. “I was stunned to hear that my colleague (Welfare Officer Mohanachandran) was attacked inside the office and was forced to take medical treatment. He (the youth) was seen roaming around the place for the past two days. We have filed a complaint anyway,” Rajesh Chandran said.

The youth, who has a Bengali accent and is around 25 years old, barged into the Junior Engineer section and demanded that he be allowed to take a bath there. “He even dropped his pants and wallet there shocking lady staff. Finally another male staffer forced him to get out of the office. We even informed the RPF. We never thought he would attack the officer,” said a railway employee. The Railway Protection Force arrested the youth and later handed him over to the Central police station. “We are yet to find out his name and native place. He seems to be mentally-ill. Further probe is on,” police said.