A 17-YEAR-OLD street vegetable vendor lost his right leg on Friday evening after he was hit by a train while trying to collect his belongings allegedly thrown on a railway track by police personnel during an anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur. Police said the vendor, Aslan, also suffered serious injuries on his left leg. Doctors in Kanpur referred him to Lucknow for treatment. Aslan is undergoing treatment at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences and doctors said his condition was stable. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Kanpur, Lakhan Yadav said during preliminary inquiry it has been found that the incident was a fallout of “negligent behaviour by a police head constable, Rakesh Kumar. Rakesh Kumar has been suspended and the Circle Officer, Kalyanpur, has been directed to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter, he added. Aslan sells vegetables close to the railway track at Indra Nagar crossing. According to Aslan's neighbour Pintoo Thakur, on Friday evening an encroachment drive was conducted near the railway track. People present at the spot claimed that cops threw a scale — used by Aslan to weigh vegetables — on the railway track. “When Aslan tried to retrieve it, he met with the accident,” said the neighbour. ASP Lakhan Yadav said that to determine the sequence of events, police have requested people to provide video footage of the incident, if anyone filmed it.
