Stench of rotting rodent in AC coach forces HC judge to leave train

Bhubaneswar, Nov 3: A sitting judge of the Orissa High Court on Friday cut short his train journey over foul smell in the AC coach due to a dead rodent.

Justice Biswanath Rath, who boarded the Bhubaneswar-Bombay Konark Express for Visakhapatnam, disembarked at Berhampur due to the overpowering stench in the AC coach he was travelling in.

Rath registered a complaint in the railway grievance register at the Berhampur station complaining of a dead rodent in the coach.

"We were travelling in A1 coach in berths 13 and 15. After Khurda Road station, Sir asked me to find out the source of the foul smell. I found a dead mouse and three live mice playing in the space between the glass window," a person accompanying the judge said.

East Coast Railway in a clarification admitted that a dead mouse was found trapped in a mouse trap in the AC coach.

"The coach area has since been cleaned with disinfectant and other chemicals at Berhampur. It will be attended to at Palasa and then at Visakhapatnam," said the ECoR.

It said the train has its maintenance schedule at Mumbai and senior officials have been informed about the incident.

Action will be taken against those found negligent in their duties, it added.