PALGHAR: Three men were killed after a goods train ran over them while they were walking on the tracks near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said on Saturday.

Their grieving families have, however, claimed that the trio was running on the tracks, as the police were chasing them at the time of the accident on Friday night.

Swapnil Shailesh Palande (23), Kunal Kumar Dubla (23), and Afroz Khalil Sheikh (28), all residents of the Virendra Nagar area in Palghar East, were knocked down by a goods train between 8.30 pm and 9 pm, an official said.

"The three men were walking on the tracks when they were fatally knocked down by the goods train. We do not have any information of them being chased by the police or committing suicide," Senior Inspector Sachin Ingavale of the Palghar GRP told PTI.

Personnel from the GRP arrived at the scene shortly after the accident, and the bodies were shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem.

Relatives of the deceased men, however, alleged that before the accident, a few police personnel in plain clothes had assaulted the youths, who, in their attempt to escape, ran towards the nearby railway tracks and were subsequently crushed by a goods train.

"The GRP has registered a case of accidental death for the time being, and a probe is underway to ascertain the circumstances of the accident," a senior police official said.

Local authorities have deployed additional personnel in the area to maintain law and order, as the incident has caused tension among residents.