SHAHJAHANPUR: More than 72 hours after the body of Leelawati, wife of a former civic body councilor, was found after she had starved to death alone at her house, her son Salil Chaudhary, who had apparently abandoned her, still did not turn up, forcing his colleagues in the Indian Railways to carry out her funeral on Tuesday.Staff at Shahjahanpur railway station collected funds and ensured all the rituals are followed.They will now take Leelawati’s ashes for immersion to Haridwar. Leelawati was the widow of Ramsher Chaudhary, who was at one time close to late Congress leader ND Tiwari. Their son Salil, a TTE with the railways, was an alcoholic. He used to keep some food for her in the house at Railway Colony here, lock her in and stay away for days. This time, he did not turn up for several days after which his mother starved to death. Salil had been working as TTE at Shahjahanpur railway station since 2005. He had become an alcoholic following a marital dispute with his wife. According to his colleagues he used to remain absent from work and had been suspended twice in the past. On Sunday, Leelawati’s decomposed body was found inside the house. The autopsy revealed she had chronic lung infection and had starved to death.“Although police made several phone calls to Salil, he did not turn up to take the body of his mother,” said Shahjahanpur railway station superintendent Om Shiv Awasthi. Senior ticket examiner Rajeev Sharma took responsibility for cremation of the body with the help of co-workers.Sharma told TOI, “I think I will be able to sleep now after cremating her body. I kept seeing her unattended body lying in the morgue. I am still unable to understand how a person can be so insensitive towards his own mother. At least he should have turned up to cremate her body and give peace to her soul. We all have offered prayers from our hearts so that she can be at peace now. We will take the ashes to Haridwar for immersion.” Awasthi said, “Salil gave us fake information about his location and never turned up to take his mother’s body, so we had to take up the responsibility. He is already suspended from his post. I will recommend that he be terminated from his post as he is incapable of holding such a responsible job in the railways.”

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