BAREILLY: In a blood curdling display of bureaucratic apathy, policemen from the GRP and a Bareilly station feuded over jurisdiction as the body of a man lay on the track for six hours and 16 more trains ran over it before it could be removed.

The unidentified man was run over by the Akal Takht Express, from Howrah and bound for Amritsar, at the Shamshan Bhoomi crossing under the Quila police station at around 6.18 am on Thursda y.

Locals who witnessed the incident informed cops at Quila police station, while the train ’s driver alerted the control room at Bareilly railway station.

The Bareilly station master immediately brought the matter to the notice of GRP officials at Bareilly railway station. On their part, the GRP staff asked police at Quila police station to take the body into their custody and send it for postmortem.

This, say officials, triggered a bitter war of words between the GRP and local police, with neither side ready to take the body. The drama continued for more than six hours. Meanwhile, more than 16 speeding trains ran over the corpose during the rest of the day, including the Saryu Yamuna Express, Poorbiya Express, PBR Express, Gharib Nawaz Express, Awadh-Assam express and the Gharib Rath.

It was only after senior railway officials stepped in that the body was taken into custody by Quila police at around 12 noon and sent for postmortem. By then, it had been mangled beyond recognition.

“After the GRP refused to take the body into custody, we have sent it for postmortem. The corpse of the man, in his early 20’s, will be kept at the mortuary for 72 hours and if no one turns up to claim it, we will conduct the last rites at government expense. As of now, his identity has not been established,” said Quila police station inspector Qamrul Hasan, talking to TOI.

On the other hand inspector, GRP Bareilly, Chandrashekhar Gupta said, “We were informed about the incident by the station master, but the accident spot comes under the jurisdiction of Quila police station and it is their duty to collect the body and send it for postmortem.”

