Mangaluru (PTI): A 70-year-old woman from Mandara in the city has won all praise for her great presence of mind that helped avert a train mishap near here recently.

Railway police sources said the incident occurred on March 21 at around 2.10 pm when the woman, Chandravathi, who was outside her house noticed a tree fall over the track between Padil and Jokatte.

Chandravathi, who knew that the Matsyagandha Express from Mangaluru to Mumbai would pass that way, rushed inside her house, brought out a red cloth and waved it to the loco pilot of the oncoming train.

The loco pilot, who noticed it, sensed danger and slowed down the train which stopped just near the place where the tree had fallen on the track.

Later, the Railway personnel and local people reached the place and ensured that the tree was cleared from the track.

The elderly woman was felicitated on Tuesday by Railway police at a function attended by senior officials.

Chandravathi, who recollected the incident, told reporters that as soon as she noticed the tree falling on the track, she rushed home with an intention of conveying the information to someone.

By that time, she heard the train's horn and realised that there was no time to waste and rushed out with a red cloth. She ran towards the track and waved the cloth.

Chandravathi said she did not have time to think about the heart surgery she had undergone recently while running towards the track.

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Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.

The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.

Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.

"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.

Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.

“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.

Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.

"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.

The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.

Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.

"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.

The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.

Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.