Athlete not pushed, she jumped off train: Probe report

Arunima lost her leg, blamed robbers

Eighteen months after she hit the headlines for losing a leg after being pushed out of a speeding train near Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly town by unidentified miscreants, the railway police have said volleyball player Arunima Sinha’s claim was false and that she had tried to commit suicide.

The GRP which was probing the incident submitted its final report in the railway magistrate’s court in Bareilly a couple of days back saying there was no evidence to suggest that Arunima was pushed by anyone out of the train.

Police have said the athlete had tried to commit suicide and thus jumped from the train.
“Arunima who had divorced her husband was having an affair with a youth from Noida... later the youth also deserted her and thus she took the extreme step,” the Government  Railway Police report said.

The athelete claimed that she was pushed out of the train by some miscreants when she resisted a robbery attempt on April 11 last year.

She was found lying in a pool of blood in the morning by the villagers and admitted to the district hospital. One of her legs had to be amputated following infection.

Police had then contested  her claims. They said there were many ‘loopholes’ in Arunima’s statement. The chain that miscreants tried to ‘snatch’ from her was found in her purse.

Police had said that she had contacted a friend in Delhi and suddenly made a plan to go to the Capital. Arunima’s friend had also told police that she was depressed. The cops had also expressed surprise that no one had lodged any complaint with them on the day the incident reportedly occurred.

The incident had triggered a nationwide outrage and the railways had to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the volleyball player.

The Union sports minister had also given financial assistance to her. She was later taken to the super speciality hospital AIIMS in Delhi for treatment at government expenditure.