Mumbai, Jan 28 (Mid-day) : Love can make people do some very strange things indeed. Fearing that his ‘characterless’ and poor girlfriend would not be able to take care of her four-year-old son, whom he was very attached to, a 30-year-old Malad resident kidnapped him and threw him in front of a running train on Republic Day.

The man had decided to commit suicide and wanted to kill the boy before that so that the kid would not have to live with his mother. According to officials from the Borivli Government Railway Police (GRP), Sandeep Bhaire, a real estate agent, had been having an affair with Anita Sharma (name changed) for the past two years.

Anita had separated from her husband two years ago and they had a son, Raja (name changed), who stays with her. In her statement to the police, Anita has said that Bhaire always doubted her fidelity and did not like that she spoke to her friends.

On Monday, Bhaire met Anita and Raja in Malad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel garden at 7 pm and the couple fought over the same issue again. Following the fight, Bhaire decided to end his life.

Abduction

Bhaire told Anita that he was taking Raja for a round in the garden, but kidnapped him and decided to kill him before committing suicide. With this in mind, he took Raja to the Western Express Highway first, but then decided to head to Malad Railway station.

Bhaire and Raja took a Churchgate slow local train from platform number 2 around 11.15 pm and got down at Jogeshwari railway station. Fifteen minutes later, Bhaire threw the four-year-old in front of a running local train headed to Churchgate.

He was about to jump in front of the train himself, when he saw Raja’s left hand being chopped off by the train’s wheels and he was paralysed by fear. After the train passed, Bhaire took Raja to KEM hospital and admitted him there. Doctors performed a surgery on Raja late on Monday night and managed to save his life. He is still in the hospital’s ICU.

Official speak

Senior Inspector S D Bagal of the Borivli GRP said, “Authorities at KEM hospital informed us about the incident. We recorded the woman’s statement in which she has said that the accused, Bhaire, had kidnapped her child and tried to kill him. We are in the process of registering a case with the Kurar police station and will hand over the accused to them.”

7.00 pm: Sandeep Bhaire meets Anita Sharma and her son, Raja, at Malad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel garden. Bhaire kidnaps Raja

11.15 pm: Bhaire and Raja board a train from Malad and alight at Jogeshwari

11.30 pm: Bhaire throws Raja in front of a train and, after seeing his arm coming under the train’s wheels, decides against killing himself (Names of mother and son changed to protect their identities)