Central Railway denies that pesticide caused passenger’s death

The mystery behind the death of 28-year-old Nazia Ur Rehman, who died of suspected pesticide poisoning after her stay in the Central Railway (CR) retiring room at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), has further thickened with railway officials saying that they provide the same pesticide treatment to local and passenger trains.

CR Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Amitabh Ojha said that although they were waiting for the results of the viscera tests that would determine poisoning, he asserted that if the same pesticide had been the issue, commuters in long distance and local trains would have had the same complaint. “We give the same treatment to our coaches, the same amount of pesticide is used and if this had been a problem we would have seen similar complaints from other commuters,” he said.

The CR has been under fire for treating the room with highly toxic pesticide due to which Nazia might have been poisoned. “I think we are too waiting for the viscera test to know if it was indeed pesticide poisoning,” Mr Ojha added.

Until then, the CR is hoping that the issue will die down but is contemplating canceling the contract of the company that was given the task of cleaning the room. “Before the couple came the same retiring room was booked exactly seven times earlier, also her husband Mr Zia Ur Rehman had left for his hometown the very next day after his wife’s death. If he suspected something like this, why didn’t he take up the issue with the police,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The results of the viscera test will be vital to confirm if Nazia was actually a victim of poisoning. Due to the test’s complexity, they take between 15 to 20 days.

The couple had travelled from Goa in the Madgoan Express and reached CST at around 11.30 pm on April 22 and were shifted from Retiring Room no. 1 to Officers Rest Room no. 1 to 2 after complaining of breathlessness. The couple was taken to St George Hospital after Nazia fainted at 1.35 pm the next day and was declared dead upon arrival.