Assam student’s death: Andhra and railway police probe allegations of foul play

The death of Himashree Boro, a 20-year-old student from Assam whose body was found near a railway track in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district, remains a mystery as police continue their investigation. Himashree died soon after she reportedly informed a friend that she felt unsafe, as there were a lot of men in her coach. Her family has now alleged she could’ve been murdered, urging the police to ensure justice. 

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has written to Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu and Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging them to ensure a time-bound inquiry into her death and action against anyone found responsible. 

Himashree, a native of Chapaidong in Kamrup district, Assam, was a student at B Borooah College in Guwahati. She was in Andhra Pradesh as part of a dance group of eight people for a two-month assignment involving dance performances, according to her family.

She had planned to travel back to Guwahati from Visakhapatnam to appear for a bank recruitment exam. She missed the train she had initially reserved a ticket for and ended up boarding the Kanniyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express around midnight on the night of October 5. According to her family, soon after boarding, in the early hours of October 6, she allegedly contacted a friend and her family members, saying she felt unsafe as the coach was full of men.

Her family said she also shared a video of the crowded compartment with a friend and spoke about being uncomfortable with the behaviour of some passengers. 

Srikakulam Superintendent of Police KV Maheswar Reddy, who is investigating the case along with the Government Railway Police, told TNM that the video shared by Himashree showed a few men sitting on the floor of the train, as it was crowded. 

“Himashree called a friend, saying there were a lot of male passengers in the train, which is true. There were a lot of passengers in that compartment, though it was a reserved coach, with a lot of unreserved passengers,” the SP said, including Himashree herself. However, the video did not show any signs of misbehaviour, he said. However, police are trying to trace the individuals seen in the video, he said. 

“We talked to two passengers we could trace so far. As per their statement, they haven’t seen any disturbance in the compartment,” he said. 

After Himashree informed her friend that she felt unsafe on the train, the friend called the Indian Railways helpline 139. According to the SP, the railway police checked the train around 3 am but couldn’t trace her. 

A few hours later, a passenger who disembarked the train from the same S2 coach in West Bengal informed the railway police personnel there that he had seen a woman fall off the train by accident some time after it crossed Vizianagaram and before Palasa, the SP said. It was then that the railway police in Srikakulam found Himashree’s body near Tekkali. 

The Srikakulam SP said that as per preliminary findings upon postmortem, there were no signs of sexual assault or physical violence. The time of death was estimated to be around 3 am, about the same time the railway police went looking for her, he said. 

He said the police were continuing to investigate the case for any signs of foul play.