Malaika Chitre and Navam Kaul were just 24, recent Rutgers University graduates beginning their careers and building their futures. Then, in the early hours of Sunday, a horrifying subway accident in Manhattan brought both lives to a sudden end.
The longtime friends from suburban New Jersey were fatally struck by a No. 4 train at the Spring Street station around 3:15 a.m. Their final moments were captured on video, showing the pair sitting on the tracks shortly before the train approached.
The circumstances surrounding why they were there remained unclear as investigators worked to piece together what happened.
“I was shocked. He was a financial analyst, doing everything right,” Sagid Qureshi, Kaul’s next-door neighbor in Sayreville, told The Post.
“From what I understand she was doing well, too — good people doing so well, with their whole lives ahead of them. It’s just so sad.”
Navam Kaul is seen in an undated Facebook photo.Facebook/Navam Kaul
Friends Who Grew Up Together
Chitre and Kaul came from neighboring Central Jersey communities, with their family homes only about 11 miles apart.
Chitre lived in South Brunswick’s Summerfield development, while Kaul grew up in Sayreville’s Colony Club, another planned residential community. Both areas have significant South Asian communities, and friends said that shared background helped connect the pair during their years at Rutgers.
“They grew up in the same world,” Rajnikant Pipalia, whose son was friends with Kaul, said.
“They’re all part of the same friends circle, the same South Asian group hanging out together, enjoying the same festivals.”
Both graduated from Rutgers in 2024, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Malaika Chitre is pictured with her dog. Chitre and Navam Kaul were struck and killed by a subway train.TikTok/mal
Chitre went on to work as a quality operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals while studying to become a doctor of pharmacy at Temple University.
Her social media accounts portrayed an active young woman enjoying time with her family, celebrating her Bernese Mountain Dog and traveling through Europe. In July, she visited Italy, including Florence and Rome.
A neighbor near her family home remembered Chitre as a bright and energetic teenager who played with children in the neighborhood.
“She used to play with the kids on the block — a bright, smart girl,” the 60-year-old neighbor said.
“I was shocked when I heard about this … It’s just so weird. I’m still not understanding: why on the track?”
Kaul Remembered as ‘Down-to-Earth’
The two were spotted sitting on the subway tracks at the Spring Street Station on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
Kaul, who was of Nepali descent, was described by those who knew him as friendly, funny and charismatic.
His parents immigrated to the United States roughly 30 years ago, according to Pipalia.
Kaul’s LinkedIn profile said he worked as a financial data analyst at Bloomberg. A company source told The Post that he had been a contract worker whose employment ended in May.
A former high school friend from Sayreville War Memorial High School remembered him as someone who brought positive energy wherever he went.
“Whenever he was around, it was really good energy,” the friend said. “He was really a cool guy — just down to earth, goofy, funny, and very charismatic as well.”
Malaika Chitre is seen in an undated LinkedIn photo.Facebook/Malaika Chitre
The friend said the tragedy was difficult to comprehend.
“You’re just starting your life and then suddenly this happens,” he said.
Questions Surround the Subway Crash
NYPD detectives were investigating several possibilities, including whether Chitre and Kaul may have been too intoxicated to recognize the approaching train in time. Authorities were also investigating whether suicide could have played a role.
According to law-enforcement sources, one of the two apparently ended up on the tracks, either by falling or climbing down, before the other followed, possibly in an attempt to help.
The train operator reportedly told supervisors that Chitre appeared to be laughing as she pulled Kaul toward her while they remained on the tracks.
Navam Kaul is seen in an undated Instagram photo.Instagram/Nav
The operator had no time to stop the train before it struck them.
No suicide notes were found, according to sources, although investigators had not ruled out suicide as a possible explanation.
The medical examiner had not publicly released a cause of death for either victim.
The uncertainty has only deepened the shock among the families, friends and neighbors who knew the pair.
Chitre’s family declined to comment and criticized media reports about the incident.
Pipalia, meanwhile, said he could not reconcile what happened with the young man he knew.
“There’s nothing in his life that would make him do anything stupid,” he said.
Another Recent Subway Tragedy
The deaths of Chitre and Kaul came just over a week after another fatal incident involving New York City subway tracks.
On Sept. 3, MTA worker Moet McCullum, 41, was fatally struck by a southbound D train at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station while working as a construction flagger. McCullum was a mother of three whose job involved alerting train operators to active work zones.
The recent tragedies have also renewed attention on the number of people struck by subway trains.
A 2024 report cited MTA figures showing that 241 people were hit by trains in 2023, including 97 who died.
As investigators continued working to determine exactly what led Chitre and Kaul onto the tracks, those who knew them were left mourning two young people who had only just begun their adult lives.
For their families and friends, the central question remains painfully unanswered: how did two promising 24-year-olds, with careers beginning and futures ahead of them, end up in the path of a moving subway train?
