Mumbai local shocker: Commuter held for stone pelting, injuring innocent bystander in row over seats

MUMBAI: A 26-year-old man was arrested by Govt Railway Police in connection with the incident where a fight between two commuters over seats had resulted in a bystander getting injured. Nishant Khatri, 28, suffered an eye injury after one of the commuters pelted a stone after hopping onto the tracks. The accused has been identified as Yogendra Buddha. Police said Buddha is a labourer and resides in Vasai.Khatri, was headed back home from his workplace when the incident occurred on Tuesday. Khatri works in a private company in the western suburbs. He boarded a Churchgate-bound fast local from Andheri railway station at 10.40 pm.

He wanted to get off at Dadar station.Two other commuters had an altercation in the coach while the train was still at Andheri. They were bickering over seats. At 11 pm when the train reached Bandra station, one of the warring commuters hopped off onto the tracks and picked up a stone. He pelted the stone towards the other commuter who had been bickering with him. But the stone hit Khatri, an innocent bystander, instead. He suffered a four inch long and one inch deep wound under his left eye.

Somehow he got off the local train and went to the station master's office where he narrated what had happened. The station master summoned the GRP and issued a memo to take Khatri to Bhabha Hospital in an ambulance. The doctors administered first aid and adviced Khatri to ophthalmologist. Khatri moved to a private hospital in Mahim where he is taking treatment.Based on Khatri's statement and his description of the commuter who pelted the stone, Bandra GRP registered an FIR.The GRP started checking CCTV footage from Western Railway stations from the day of the incident. Cameras equipped with facial recognition tech sent out an alert when the accused was spotted at Dadar station. He was taken into custody on Jan 5.