The brutal murder of a young engineer on a train to Madurai and the continuing mystery

Tragic murder of J. Rajesh Prabhu on a train journey unfolds a complex legal battle and unresolved mystery.

When J. Rajesh Prabhu, 24, boarded an early morning train to his native Madurai on January 13, 2008, to celebrate Pongal, little did the young engineer know that it would be his last journey. For, death awaited him on the Nagercoil-Tirupati-Mumbai Express.

Barely two hours after he boarded the train, some passengers saw him dead in a pool of blood and alerted railway officials on the train. His body, bearing multiple stab injuries, was removed from the train at Tirunelveli Junction and the Government Railway Police launched an investigation into the murder.

Rajesh, who was working in a private firm in Gujarat, had reached Nagercoil on January 11, 2008, and took the train to Madurai two days later. Preliminary investigation revealed that he purchased an unreserved ticket and boarded the S-10 reserved compartment. His blood-stained body was found in the S-9 compartment later.

With no progress in the probe for almost three months, the victim’s father moved the Madras High Court seeking an investigation by the Crime Branch-CID of the Tamil Nadu police. On April 9, 2008, the case was handed over to the CB-CID. A special team, led by inspector S. Marirajan, examined several witnesses to find out the circumstances that led to the murder on the running train.

The team travelled on the same train from Nagercoil to Tirunelveli to get a feel of the journey and know about frequent travellers, scheduled/unscheduled stoppages, and vendors. It was during this probe that the team came across a crucial witness who gave an input that revealed certain unknown facts of the case. According to his information, the victim was seen engaged in a heated argument with a group of passengers who objected to his boarding a reserved coach with an unreserved ticket, says a report in the Tamil Nadu Police Journal.

Investigators examined the ticket used by the victim and found an entry made with the berth number and coach altered. The Travelling Ticket Examiner, who was on duty that day, confirmed that he had initially allotted a berth in the S-9 coach and then changed it to S-10 after an argument between Rajesh and some passengers.

Acting on this input, the police traced the passengers who had travelled in the berths, going by their addresses given in the ticket booking forms. The prosecution alleged that the suspects were angry with Rajesh and one of them followed him to the adjacent coach. At an opportune time, four others joined him and committed the murder.