Mumbai: An eyewitness to Thursday’s incident where a disabled commuter was pushed off a moving local train and killed by an able-bodied traveller following a row over seats told the police that onlookers had intervened and offered to make space, but to no avail. Police probe has also shown that the accused, Amjad Shaikh, was travelling without a ticket. Shaikh was produced before a railway magistrate court on Friday and was remanded to police custody till Aug 27.The victim, Cajetan Pires, 63, had an amputation in the left leg. He had boarded the Divyangjan coach of a Borivli local from Mahim station on Thursday. Shaikh was travelling in the same coach illegally from Lower Parel. “My brother preferred a seat where he could place his stick next to him for support,” said Pires’ sister, Maria. “He asked Shaikh to vacate the seat, but Shaikh was rude to him. When an argument broke out, co-passengers intervened and offered to give up one of their seats. But Shaikh did not move,” she said. Pires’ family met the eyewitness to find out what transpired in the coach. Police have recorded statements of two witnesses so far and are putting together the sequence of events that led to the incident.“What business did an able-bodied traveller (Shaikh) have in the handicapped coach?,” said a grief stricken Maria. Her daughter, Ria, said the family wants the strictest possible punishment for Shaikh. “Had he given up his seat, my uncle would have been alive today,” said Ria. Pires used to live with his sister and her family at Santacruz East until he moved out six months ago. He worked at a paan stall owned by a friend. “He was very headstrong but cared a great deal for me and my children. He would worry if we did not return home on time in the evenings. We cannot accept that he is no more,” said Maria.A post-mortem examination conducted at the Cooper Hospital on Friday revealed head injuries. “The moment the police called us and said that my uncle was unconscious from falling off a train, our hearts sank. At the hospital, we learnt that he had passed away,” said Ria. Pires’ funeral will be carried out on Saturday.
