Migrant worker dies on Shramik train in UP, co-passengers travel with body to WB

A 50-year-old migrant worker died on-board a Shramik Special train from Rajasthan to West Bengal, triggering panic among or passengers who travelled with body for more than eight hours, police said on Sunday.

Buddha Parihar, who hailed from Harishchandrapur in Malda district, used to work at a hotel in Rajasthan's Bikaner. His bror-in-law Saraju Das also worked with him at same hotel.

Parihar, survived by his wife and two children, was working in Rajasthan for nearly 20 years, his family said.

Parihar and Das lost ir jobs due to coronavirus-triggred lockdown, and ir multiple attempts to return to Malda failed even as y were running out of money.

y finally succeeded in boarding a train around 11 am on May 29, police said.

He died on train around 10 pm on Saturday when it was near Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh, y said.

death triggered panic in compartment with people suspecting that Parihar might have died due to COVID-19 and co-passengers might contract disease, police said.

Railway doctors and or staff attended after train reached Malda station around 6.40 am on Sunday, an Eastern Railway official said.

body was n handed over to Government Railway Police (GRP).

railway official said that Das, in a written statement, said that Parihar was suffering from tuberculosis and he had given him medicines when he was feeling unwell during journey. But Parihar did t survive.

Later, matter was handed over to Englishbazar Police Station, which has started an investigation into incident and sent body to Malda Medical College for postmortem, a senior police officer said.

"We used to work at a hotel but as soon as lockdown started we lost our job. We didn't have any money left and tried to return home several times but couldn't. In

meantime, Buddha fell sick. Finally, we boarded train on May 29. But he died on train mysteriously," Das said.

Malda District Magistrate Rajarshi Mitra also confirmed that Parihar had tuberculosis.

Das, who accompanied him, will be tested for coronavirus, he added.