MP: Engineering student's death on railway track shrouded in mystery over 'behead' text

BHOPAL: The death of a 20-year-old engineering student on a railway track in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district has left the police baffled due to a Whatsapp message talking about the "beheading punishment for disrespecting Nabi" (prophet Mohammad) sent from his mobile phone shortly before his death. Two days after the death of Nishank Rathore, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Tuesday directed the Raisen police to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident, including the message that was sent from the mobile phone of the deceased to his father, Umashankar Rathore.

“Primarily, it appears to be a suicidal case. Viscera has been preserved, and mobile phones are being examined. The SIT will probe everything,” Mishra told reporters in Bhopal. Queried on whether Nishank took the extreme step due to his reported involvement in certain financial dealings, including cryptocurrency, the home minister said this angle will also be investigated by the SIT. As per the postmortem report, the student's body got cut below the waist after he was hit by a train. There was no injury mark on his body, said Mishra. Meanwhile, ruling out any link between the utterances of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Sunday's incident, a police officer on Tuesday said the circumstances point to "suicide" but a probe is on regarding the message, which was sent from the mobile phone of the deceased to his father.

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The deceased Nishank Rathore was studying in a private engineering college in Bhopal. The officer said a railway pointsman on Sunday altered a police post located near Barkheda railway station in the Raisen district that a body was lying near the railway track. Police reached the spot and shifted the body to the Obeidullaganj civil hospital in Raisen for postmortem. Police found a mobile phone on the body, slippers and a two-wheeler. The deceased was identified after his parents, both residents of Seoni-Malwa town in the Hoshangabad district, reached the hospital.

However, what baffled the police was a Whatsapp message sent from Nishank's mobile phone to his father. "The message saying 'Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda' was sent from Nishank's mobile phone at 5:44 PM (on Sunday). Nishank died after he was hit by a speeding Grand Trunk Express at around 6:05 PM," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Amrit Meena told reporters. He said the loco pilot of another train informed a railway employee about the body lying on the track around 6.13 PM.

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"Whether this message was sent by Nishank or someone else is a matter of investigation. We are getting the mobile phone examined by experts and will be in a position to comment once we receive the report," he said. Meena further said Nishank undoubtedly died after being hit by a train. "There is no doubt that he died after being hit by the train. CCTV camera footage also revealed that he came all alone to Barkheda from Bhopal, about 48 km away, on a two-wheeler," he added. Even a post-mortem report also stated about death due to rail cutting, he said. Responding to a query, he said Nishank had not sent any objectionable message from his mobile (in the past) and nothing related to Nupur Sharma was found. "He had never informed the police or his parents that he was feeling threatened. He was not associated with any organisation or a political party. All circumstances are pointing towards a suicide angle, Meena added.