Indian origin man and woman killed after train runs over them in New York subway. Viral video shows them sitting on tracks before the fatal accident

Two Indian origin 24-year-old friends from New Jersey, Malaika Chitre and Navam Kaul, were fatally struck by a New York City subway train after they were seen sitting on the tracks at Manhattan’s Spring Street station early Sunday,a s per a TOI report. The pair, both recent Rutgers University graduates, were hit by a southbound No. 4 train shortly after 3 am, with investigators still trying to establish what led them onto the tracks.

The New York Police Department said officers responded to a report of two people needing assistance at about 3:14 am on September 13. Emergency responders found Chitre and Kaul on the roadbed after they had been struck, and both were pronounced dead at the scene. Around 100 passengers were later evacuated from the train, according to reports.

CCTV and train report shed light on final moments

An incident report obtained by the New York Daily News said the train operator told supervisors she saw a man and woman sitting on the tracks as the train approached. She attempted to stop the train but could not prevent the collision.


The report said Chitre appeared to be laughing and pulling Kaul towards her shortly before the train hit them. Video circulating on social media also appeared to show the pair sitting together on the tracks before the train arrived.


An MTA report cited by PEOPLE said one of the two may have initially fallen onto the tracks, after which the other appeared to go down to help. The account has not established why the first person ended up on the tracks.

Why did the two go onto the subway tracks?

Investigators are considering several possibilities, but no explanation has been established.

One line of inquiry is that Kaul may have fallen or climbed onto the tracks first and Chitre followed in an attempt to help him. Law-enforcement sources cited by the New York Post said it was unclear whether he fell or deliberately went down.

Investigators are also examining whether alcohol or other intoxication could have affected the pair’s awareness of their surroundings, according to law-enforcement sources. However, there has been no official finding that either was intoxicated, and toxicology results have not been made public.

Suicide has also been raised as a possibility, but investigators have not concluded that the deaths were intentional. No suicide note was found, according to sources cited by the New York Post.

At present, authorities have not publicly established why Chitre and Kaul were on the tracks or what happened in the moments immediately before the train approached.

Who were Malaika Chitre and Navam Kaul?

Chitre and Kaul were longtime friends who attended Rutgers University and graduated in 2024. They were from New Jersey and were part of the same wider social and South Asian community around the university, according to people who knew them.

Chitre, from the Dayton section of South Brunswick, graduated from Rutgers with a degree in public health and a minor in business administration. She was working as a quality operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and had recently started a Doctor of Pharmacy programme at Temple University, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Kaul, from Sayreville, graduated from Rutgers Business School with a degree in finance. He had been working as a financial data analyst at Bloomberg since 2025.

People who knew the pair described them as successful young professionals who were beginning their careers. Rajnikant Pipalia, whose son was a close friend of Kaul, told the New York Post that the two had grown up within the same social circle and remained connected to the same South Asian community.

The circumstances surrounding their deaths remain under investigation, with authorities yet to determine why the friends were on the subway tracks when the train entered the station.