Student tried to climb wall before falling onto train tracks and being killed
Student Jeevan Singh Dhandha, aged 18, died after being hit by a train in August, it was discovered he was trying to climb a wall to enter a night club. Jeevan fell from a bridge in Suffolk Street onto a concrete ledge, he then fell 30ft onto train tracks at Birmingham New Street. He lay injured on the rail line for three hours before being hit by a train leaving the station.
Jeevan was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he died six days after the accident. A 31-year-old man who was with him named Hitesh Shirajlal also fell from the same wall. Hitesh also died a day after being discharged from the same hospital.
Detective Constable Tim Friend from British Transport Police showed Jeevan’s family the fateful CCTV footage of Jeevan exiting Snob’s nightclub. It showed him using a wheelie bin to climb the wall before falling onto the tracks.
DC Friend said, “The reason they (Jeevan and a doorman) were going to the rear door is because he had been asked to leave because he was being sick.
“Jeevan had been drinking at a friend’s house before getting a taxi into Birmingham.
“They had a bottle of vodka in a queue outside the club and we know Jeevan bought a round of drinks in the club.
“We examined his phone and all the messages on WhatsApp.
“When pieced together they indicated he was going to try to get back in the club.
“It’s our hypothesis he thought he could climb that wall and find a way back into the club.
“It’s not uncommon, there has been a similar instance since and it has happened before from speaking to staff at the club.”
Jeevan was described as ‘bright and caring’ and a straight A student at Queen Mary’s Grammar School in Walsall. He died weeks before starting an Economics degree at the University of Leeds.
Jeevan and Hitesh met in an alleyway near Suffolk Street at around 2.30am, about an hour after Jeevan had been ejected from Snobs DC Friend explained. An inquest into Hitesh’s death will be held soon.
It is stated that the injuries that killed Jeevan were sustained by the train and not the fall. Birmingham coroner Louise Hunt recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
She said, “I am touched by the words his mother said in how bright and intelligent, and also how caring a young man he was.
“I hope you can always remember him that way and not in the tragedy that has occurred.”
