mumbai

Updated: Oct 01, 2017 23:55 IST

Police have launched a probe into alleged instances of theft and molestation reported by eyewitnesses after Friday’s stampede on a footover bridge at Elphinstone Road station.

Videos showing ornaments being removed from the bodies of the victims have gone viral on social media. “We are studying the video recordings and investigating the cases of thefts and molestation reported to us,” said Sunil Deshmukh, assistant commissioner of police.

The police on Sunday started recording the statements of residents staying in the building opposite the Elphinston station bridge. “The people who witnessed the incident would be called in for recording their statements to find out the cause of the stampede,” said an officer from the Dadar police station.

The family of Chandan Singh, who was one of the 23 people killed in Friday’s stampede on a foot overbridge at Elphinstone Road station, was called to the Dadar police station on Sunday and handed over the 28-year-old’s watch and wallet.

“We have got his watch and wallet but his laptop and some official documents are still missing,” said Singh’s brothers, who were still struggling to come to terms with his death.

Singh, a Badlapur resident, was an accountant at a firm in Elphinston. He had alighted from a train at Parel when it began to rain and he might have taken shelter on the bridge when he became a part of the stampede.

Singh’s relatives had claimed his body from KEM Hospital and were told to go the Dadar police station to collect the victim’s belongings. The police have also begun returning belongings, including gold jewellery of the victims, “The KEM hospital doctors have given us the belongings of the victims, which were removed by the ward boys during post-mortems,” said Sunil Deshmukh, assistant commissioner of police (Dadar division).