Woman, 2 kids found dead on railway track

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, May 19

Mystery shrouds the death of a 45-year-old woman and her two children whose bodies were found under the railway overbridge on a railway track at Dera Bassi here today.

While GRP officials said the victims might have been hit by a train while crossing a railway track, kin of the victims have alleged murder.

The deceased have been identified as Sukhvinder Kaur (45) and her two children — Preeti (11) and Hemant Singh (15) — residents of Mubarikpur village near Dera Bassi.

According to sources, Preeti was a student of a government school while her brother Hemant Singh did not continue his studies after passing Class IX.

The GRP officials said they received information about three bodies lying on the track around 11.45 pm. A GRP team rushed to the spot and took the bodies into its possession.

On Friday morning, when the victims’ kin, who live in Nauni village in Haryana, came to know about the incident, they alleged that Sukhvinder Kaur and her two children had been killed by her husband Mukhtiar Singh and their bodies were thrown on the railway track in a bid to make it look like suicide.

The GRP has initiated inquest proceedings in the matter after conducting a postmortem at the Civil hospital, Dera Bassi.

GRP sources said it appeared the victim and her two children, who had come to pay obeisance at Peer Dargah near Dera Bassi on Thursday evening, might have been hit by train while crossing the railway track and died.

‘No reason for suicide’

Sucha Singh, brother of victim Sukhvinder Kaur, said, “There was no reason for my sister to commit suicide along with her kids. Had it been a case of suicide, their bodies would have been torn apart”. “Why would my sister travel from Mubarikpur to Dera Bassi to commit suicide?” the victim’s brother asked. He said his sister had got married to Mukhtiar Singh and the couple had two children out of the wedlock. He said Mukhtiar Singh was a habitual drinker and also had illicit relations to which Sukhvinder objected. He said Mukhtiar Singh had threatened him over the phone that he would kill his sister some day.