The fire on the Hyderabad–Sholapur Faluknama Passenger train on October 16 at Gulbarga railway station was the result of two lovers setting themselves ablaze in a bid to end their lives, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has concluded after preliminary investigation.
According to sources, the two victims, who were charred to death in the train, have been identified as Sharanu Basavalingappa (22), a resident of Vishal Nagar, and Varsha (17), the daughter of Shankar, a resident of Hanumanagar. The RPF established the identities of the bodies based on the account of a tea vendor, Ansari, and after verifying the details of a tom-tom vehicle found at the railway station.
Sharanu, a Class 10 dropout, and Varsha, a first-year pre-university student, were in love for the last one year. The train, which normally stops here for about three hours before proceeding to Sholapur, served as their regular meeting place as very few passengers would be there after it reached Gulbarga from Hyderabad.
About 20 days ago, the two spoke to their parents about their marriage plans, but it was opposed as they belonged to different castes.