'Drunk men around me': Assam student's last video from train before she went missing

Himashri Boro, a 20-year-old student from Assam, was travelling alone after a dance competitionGUWAHATI: A 20-year-old Assam college student travelling alone on a train after a dance competition had told her family she felt unsafe in a coach surrounded by inebriated men, and had also shared a video of the compartment with a friend, before contact with her was lost in the early hours of October 6.Her body was found near railway tracks in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district on Wednesday.Himashri Boro’s family has alleged murder and accused the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of negligence, demanding a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to her death.The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), however, said the circumstances were under inquiry and that a preliminary probe by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Palasa prima facie suggested that Boro might have fallen from a moving train.‘She said she felt unsafe’: Family recounts last call, videoBoro, a resident of Bonda in Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan district, had travelled to Visakhapatnam with a dance troupe to participate in a competition. She was returning alone ahead of the other members because she had an examination scheduled in Guwahati.According to her family, she boarded Train No. 22503 at Visakhapatnam around 12.15am on October 6. A local acquaintance, identified by the NFR as Avinash, accompanied her to the station.CCTV footage showed Boro boarding the train’s S-2 coach with a general ticket, the railway said.After boarding, she called her sister-in-law and another friend, saying she was uncomfortable with the atmosphere inside the coach.“After getting on the train, she called me and another friend of hers, and told us that she was feeling uncomfortable in the coach. There were inebriated men all around, making her feel unsafe,” her sister-in-law said.Boro also shared a video of the coach with a friend, providing a glimpse of the conditions she had described during the call.Family loses contact between 2.30am and 3amThe family said it lost contact with Boro between 2.30am and 3am and subsequently alerted the railway helpline. They were told that RPF personnel would check on her.The NFR confirmed that it had received a complaint through the Rail Madad portal on October 6 regarding alleged misbehaviour with a woman passenger aboard the train.An RPF assistant sub-inspector and other personnel attended to the complaint at Srikakulam Road station. They searched the general and sleeper coaches but could not trace Boro, the railway said.Her family, however, said it received no subsequent confirmation that she had been located or was safe.“We never heard back about her being safe. Her body has now been recovered near the railway tracks in Andhra Pradesh. Her two bags have been found intact inside the coach,” her sister-in-law said, calling for a thorough investigation.Body found between Ponduru and Dusi sectionsThe RPF later found Boro’s body between the Ponduru and Dusi railway sections in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district.The GRP shifted the body to Government RIMS Hospital in Srikakulam for an inquest and autopsy. The circumstances in which she died remain under investigation.Authorities are recording statements from passengers and the person who accompanied Boro to the station. CCTV footage from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam is also being examined.The RPF and GRP are coordinating with police in Assam and Andhra Pradesh as the investigation continues.Assam govt steps in to facilitate return of bodyDimoria MLA Tapan Das said the Assam government would facilitate the return of Boro’s body.“An autopsy has to be done there. After that, a flight schedule will have to be worked out as there are no direct flights to Guwahati. We are coordinating and trying to ensure that the body can be brought back at the earliest without any family member having to go to claim it,” he said.The investigation is continuing, with authorities yet to establish the sequence of events that led to Boro’s death.