Amritsar Train Driver Commits Suicide After Tragedy: Fact Check

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Amritsar Train Driver Commits Suicide after the Tragic Accident

Other Versions

1. Amritsar Train Tragedy: Arvind Kumar, the Driver of Amritsar-Jalandhar DMU Train Committed Suicide Today!

Image of Suicide Note Letter — Suicide Note Letter

2. (Telugu)
అమృత్సర్ ట్రైన్ ప్రమాద ఘటనలో తన తప్పు లేనప్పటికీ ,తాను నడిపిన ట్రైన్ క్రింద చనిపోయినవారి మృతికి తాను నైతికంగా భాద్యత వహిస్తూ ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకున్న ట్రైన్ లోకో పైలట్ అరవింద్ కుమార్ …!
అరవింద్ కుమార్ రాసిన ఉత్తరానికి తర్జుమా ” మాకు రావణ దహనం లాంటి విషయం జరుగుతున్నదని ఎటువంటి సమాచారం లేదు , మాకు గ్రీన్ సిగ్నల్ ఇవ్వడం తో ఎప్పుడూ లాగానే మాకు నిర్దేశించిన వేగంలో వెళ్ళాము , ఒక్కసారి అనుకోకుండా రైలుపట్టాలపై జనాలు కనిపించేటప్పటికి హారన్ వాయిస్తూ వచ్చాను , ఆ సమయంలో ఎమర్జెన్సీ బ్రేకులు కూడా వేసాను , ట్రైన్ లో ప్రయాణించే రెండువేల మంది జనాల సేఫ్టీ గురించి ఆలోచించి తర్జన భర్జన పడి ఎమర్జెన్సీ బ్రేకులు వేసేటప్పటికి జరగాల్సిన నష్టం జరిగిపోయింది .. నేను హారన్ కొట్టినప్పటికీ జనాలు కదలలేదు దాని వలన అనుకోకుండా తప్పు జరిగిపోయింది …

ఇట్లు
అరవింద్ కుమార్

Fact Check:

Few images and a video doing rounds widely online allege to show Amritsar train driver commits suicide after the tragic accident. They show a man in a pink T-shirt hanging dead from a bridge. The images also seem to include the suicide note letter of Arvind Kumar mentioning he felt bad about his character assassination after the Amritsar train tragedy and took to suicide as moral responsibility of the deaths. No, as explained below, the claims that Arvind Kumar, the Amritsar train driver commits suicide are not true.

About Amritsar Train Tragedy

During early night hours of 19th October 2018, a local DMU train ran into a group of people standing on the tracks during Dussehra celebrations. The Amritsar train disaster killed 62 people, injuring around 100 more. The unfortunate train accident took place at Joda Phatak (gatepost) in Eastern outskirts of Amritsar. The Punjab state announced a day of mourning in honor of the victims and ordered an inquiry as to how the accident occurred.

Amritsar Train Driver Commits Suicide?

The letter presented as suicide note is in fact a statement of the train driver (loco pilot) Arvind Kumar involved in the Amritsar train tragedy. He mentioned a train coming from the other side before he actually saw the gathering of people on train tracks. Kumar said he blew the horn and applied emergency brakes, but it did not help. Then, he said, he had to move the train to next station to protect the passengers from the angry people pelting stones at train. The driver of the DMU train, however, did not commit suicide. As of this writing, Arvind Kumar is in the custody of Punjab Railways, who are inquiring on the tragic incident.

The young man in pink T-shirt hanging on a rope around his neck is not Arvind Kumar, the driver of the Amritsar train involved in tragic accident. As reported in Jagran Hindi news website jagran.com, on 22nd October morning, the man in images and video was found hanging from a bridge near Bohru village of Amritsar. Someone combined both these unrelated incidents and fabricated the false news saying the Amritsar train driver commits suicide. The man who took to suicide (name not known clearly) was depressed and mentally ill for some time and attempted suicide earlier as well.