CHENNAI: The horrific, desolate and life-threatening infrastructural gap in Chennai’s MRTS stations has now claimed a life. Worse, the death came to light only four days later.Four days after a 55-year-old woman went missing at Mylapore MRTS railway station, her bloated body was found inside a room at the station on Monday. Police suspect she must have fallen through a narrow opening on the second floor while attempting to use a restroom. The fall from about 60-ft caused her instant death, said police, quoting forensic findings.The deceased Vijaya, wife of Venkatesan, lived in Balaji Nagar, Pallikaranai. On Oct 8, she boarded a Velachery-Chennai Beach-bound train with her daughter, Gayathri, to visit the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital at Omandurar Estate in Chepauk.During the journey, Vijaya complained of severe stomach pain and told her daughter that she needed to use the restroom. They got off at Mylapore station.While Gayathri was waiting, Vijaya entered a disused room on the upper floor. Her daughter did not notice where she had gone.When Vijaya failed to return, Gayathri lodged a missing-person complaint with the Mylapore police, suspecting that her mother might have left the station.On Monday, commuters alerted railway staffers about a foul smell coming from the ground floor. The staffers informed the Govt Railway Police (GRP), who inspected the station and entered an abandoned room measuring about 10ft by 10ft. After moving old furniture, broken wooden desks and damaged steel chairs, they found Vijaya’s decomposed body.The body was sent to Govt Royapettah Hospital for a postmortem.Investigators suspect that Vijaya might have entered the room on the second floor to relieve herself but fell through an opening measuring about 1.5 feet wide. The room below also had a similar opening and was used to store discarded furniture. Police suspect she fell through the openings and landed on the ground floor.Assistant commissioner of police Kavinna, attached to the GRP at Chennai Egmore, said the postmortem findings indicated no foul play. GRP inspector Rajkumar registered a case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in connection with the unnatural death.The Mylapore police transferred the missing-person case to the Thiruvanmiyur railway police for further investigation. Vijaya’s body was handed over to her family on Tuesday.
