The victims' house had a toilet, but they still continued to defecate in the open, the village head said

Three members of a family, including a five-month pregnant woman, were killed by a running train in Jharkhand's Palamau district on Monday morning.

According to the police, five-month pregnant Sarita Devi, 22, Radhika Devi, 32 and her daughter Richa Kumar, 13, had gone to answer nature's call near Lalgarh railway station on Monday morning, when they were mowed down by a running Garib Rath Express. All three died on the spot. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

The incident has put a question mark on the government's claim of Jharkhand being an open defecation free (ODF) state.

Sarpanch Aneeta Devi however, insisted that the village was open defecation free (ODF). She said the victims' house had a toilet, but they still continued to defecate in the open.