Sayreville War Memorial High School Grad Hit, Killed By NYC Subway Train

NEW YORK CITY, NY — A Sayreville man and a South Brunswick woman, described in media reports as good friends, were killed early Sunday morning when they were both hit by a No. 4 subway train in Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department.

The man was identified as Navam Kaul, of Sayreville and the woman Malaika Chitre, of the Dayton section of South Brunswick, according to NJ.com, which has photos of the two young people.

Subscribe

Both were 24 years old and both recently graduated from Rutgers.

The pair were seen sitting on the subway tracks at the Spring Street station in SoHo moments before they were struck, said the NYPD. The train came barreling through the station at 3:14 a.m. Sunday.

The subway conductor was unable to stop in time, and both young people were killed.

One of the two appeared to have fallen onto the tracks and the other apparently came down to help, police sources told the New York Post. The MTA train operator said the woman, Chitre, appeared to be laughing as she pulled Kaul toward her while they sat on the tracks, the Post reported. A video circulating on social media appears to show both of them sitting on the tracks seconds before the train raced into the station.

"NYPD detectives were investigating whether Chitre and Kaul may have been so intoxicated they didn't realize until too late that a train was barreling down on them," sources told the New York Post.

The two both graduated from Rutgers-New Brunswick undergrad in 2024. The two may have met and become friends at college.

Kaul graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School in 2020. At the time of his death, he was working as financial data analyst for Bloomberg, according to his LinkedIn account. He also took classes at Rutgers Business School.

At the time of her death, Chitre was working for Acadia Pharmaceuticals, according to her LinkedIn. She graduated from South Brunswick High School.