In the early hours of a Saturday morning, conservancy workers cleaning a train at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus made a discovery that would draw a line between two cities and one broken family: the body of a three-year-old boy from Surat, missing for three days, found in a lavatory dustbin aboard the Kushinagar Express. His throat had been slit. The prime suspect is his own 26-year-old cousin, who had been visiting from Bihar and was the last person seen with the child. The case now asks what drives a young man to extinguish the life of a child entrusted to his care — a question investigato
3-Year-Old Found Murdered in Train Lavatory; Cousin Sought in Surat Kidnapping Case
A 3-year-old child was kidnapped and murdered by his cousin; his throat was slit and body disposed in a train lavatory.
His body was hidden in a dustbin in the train lavatory
Mark
So the child was missing for three days before being found?
Mimi
Three days, yes. He disappeared on August 21 and was discovered early Saturday morning in the train lavatory. His mother had left him with her sister while she took the older children to school.
Luke
And we know for certain Vikas took him to the railway station because of CCTV footage?
Mimi
That's what the footage shows—the two of them together at Surat railway station. They apparently got a ride from someone on a motorcycle to get there.
Mark
Do we know if Vikas actually boarded the train with the child, or did something happen between the station and Mumbai?
Luke
That's still unclear. Police believe they went to Dadar and then Thane, but the exact location of the murder hasn't been established. The investigation is ongoing.
Mimi
Right. What's strange is that the body ended up on a specific train—the Kushinagar Express—but how it got there, and whether Vikas was the one who put it there, is still being worked out.
Mark
Has anyone explained why he would do this? Was there any conflict in the family?
Luke
Not that's been reported. Vikas was unemployed, but there's no clear motive mentioned yet. That's one of the things police are still investigating.
Mimi
The family told police he was unemployed, but beyond that, there's no explanation for why he allegedly targeted his own young cousin.
Il Polso
- A toddler vanished from his Surat home on August 21 while his mother was walking his siblings to school, taken out by a visiting cousin who never brought him back.
- Three days later, conservancy workers cleaning the Kushinagar Express at 1 a.m. found the boy's body stuffed in a lavatory dustbin — a post-mortem confirmed his throat had been slit.
- CCTV footage from Surat railway station placed the cousin, Vikas Kumar Shah, with the child on the platform, and investigators believe the two traveled toward Mumbai via Dadar and Thane.
- Police have launched a citywide manhunt for Vikas, who is unemployed and whose motive remains entirely unknown, leaving the case suspended between evidence and explanation.
- Forensic teams, the Railway Protection Force, and Gujarat police are now working across jurisdictions to reconstruct the child's final hours and determine exactly where and how he was killed.
In the early hours of a Saturday morning, conservancy workers cleaning a train at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus made a discovery that would draw a line between two cities and one broken family: the body of a three-year-old boy from Surat, missing for three days, found in a lavatory dustbin aboard the Kushinagar Express. His throat had been slit. The prime suspect is his own 26-year-old cousin, who had been visiting from Bihar and was the last person seen with the child. The case now asks what drives a young man to extinguish the life of a child entrusted to his care — a question investigators have yet to answer.
A three-year-old boy from Surat was found dead in the lavatory of the Kushinagar Express at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in the early hours of Saturday. Conservancy workers discovered his body inside a dustbin around 1 a.m. as they cleaned the train after its midnight arrival. A post-mortem examination confirmed his throat had been slit. His photographs were circulated to police stations across Mumbai to establish his identity.
The boy had been missing since August 21. He lived with his mother, Durgavati, and two older siblings in Surat's Amroli area, while his father worked as a laborer in the Middle East. A week before his disappearance, Durgavati's sister Rabdi had arrived from Bihar with her 26-year-old son Vikas and a daughter. On the morning of August 21, Durgavati left her youngest at home with Rabdi while she took her older children to school. Vikas had walked partway with her but turned back. When she returned, her son was gone.
Rabdi told Durgavati that Vikas had taken the boy out to play. When neither returned, she filed a missing persons report with Amroli police. CCTV footage from Surat railway station showed Vikas and the child together on the premises, apparently departing on a motorcycle. Investigators believe they later traveled to Dadar and then toward Thane, though the exact location of the killing has not been established.
Vikas Kumar Shah is now the prime suspect, and police have launched a manhunt for him. Authorities are questioning passengers and attendants from the coach where the body was found, trying to determine how the child came to be on the Kushinagar Express. Vikas's family described him as unemployed, but no motive has yet emerged. The full sequence of events — how a child was taken from his home, killed, and left in a train lavatory — remains under investigation.
A three-year-old boy from Surat, missing since August 21, was found dead in the lavatory of the Kushinagar Express at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus early Saturday morning. Conservancy workers discovered his body inside a dustbin around 1 a.m. as they cleaned the train after it arrived shortly after midnight. The Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police were called immediately. Forensic teams arrived at the scene, and the post-mortem examination revealed the child's throat had been slit. His photographs were distributed to police stations across the city to establish his identity.
Hours later, Gujarat's Amroli police confirmed the boy had been reported missing from their jurisdiction. According to the case file, he lived with his mother, Durgavati, and two older siblings. His father works as a laborer in the Middle East; his mother works as a housekeeper. A week before the disappearance, Durgavati's sister Rabdi had arrived from Bihar with her son Vikas, age 26, and a daughter to visit. On the morning of August 21, Durgavati left her youngest son at home with Rabdi while she took her older children to school. Vikas initially went with her but turned back partway through the journey. When Durgavati returned, her son was gone.
Durgavati told police that Rabdi said Vikas had taken the boy out to play. When neither returned, she reported him missing to Amroli police. Investigators reviewed CCTV footage from Surat railway station, which showed Vikas and the three-year-old together on the premises. According to the footage, they had apparently received a ride from someone on a motorcycle. Police believe the two later traveled to Dadar and then toward Thane, though the exact location where the child was killed has not been established.
Vikas Kumar Shah, the boy's cousin, is now the prime suspect in the case. Police have launched a manhunt for him. Authorities are investigating how the child's body came to be on the Kushinagar Express and are questioning train passengers and attendants from the coach where the body was found. Vikas's family told police he was unemployed, but investigators have not yet identified a clear motive for the killing. The sequence of events—how the boy was taken from Surat, where he was killed, and how his body reached the train—remains under investigation as police work to piece together the final hours of the child's life.
Citazioni salienti
Vikas initially accompanied her but turned back midway. When she returned, her son was missing.— Durgavati (mother), in statement to police
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