Chennai | A mentally disturbed man from Chattisgarh was found dead with his body tied underneath a berth in a general compartment of the Kochuveli Gorakhpur Raptisagar Express train at Chennai Central railway station, police said on Friday.

The man, in his mid-twenties, was mentally unstable. His two relatives who accompanied him from Erode in the state, to be taken to his hometown, tied his hands and feet and shoved him under the berth in a general compartment after some passengers expressed insecurity when he paced up and down the compartment, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said.

His neck was also apparently tied with a cloth to prevent him from screaming, the police said.

"The man would have died of strangulation when he struggled to free himself," the police official said.

When the train arrived at the Central railway station here around 11.45 pm on August 16, the two relatives attempted to wake him but in vain. Upon being informed, the GRP sent the body for post-mortem.

Enquiries with Ramkumar, who accompanied the deceased identified as Prakash from Chattisgarh, by the police revealed that the mentally challenged man had gone to Erode this month to work at a stone quarry. But when he appeared mentally unstable, the contractor asked his relatives to take him home.

Accordingly, they boarded the train at Erode. But his health condition appeared to disturb the fellow passengers who complained to Ramkumar and a juvenile accompanying him.

In a bid to restrain his movement in the train compartment, the two persons tied up Prakash with the cloth and pushed him underneath a berth, which eventually turned fatal, said police.

The GRP has registered a case. Ramkumar and the juvenile have been detained by the police.