Mystery Deepens After Two 24-Year-Old Friends Are Found on NYC Subway Tracks Moments Before Tragedy

Navam Kaul is seen in an undated Facebook photo.Facebook/Navam Kaul

Two longtime friends who had recently graduated from Rutgers University and were just beginning their professional lives have been identified as the pair involved in a disturbing late-night incident on the New York City subway.

Malaika Chitre and Navam Kaul, both 24 and from New Jersey, were seen sitting on the tracks at Manhattan’s Spring Street station shortly before 3:15 a.m. Sunday. Their final moments were captured in footage that has since circulated online, but investigators are still trying to understand how — and why — the pair ended up there.

Investigators examine what happened before the incident

Malaika Chitre is pictured with her dog. Chitre and Navam Kaul were struck and killed by a subway train.TikTok/mal

According to law-enforcement sources, investigators believe one of the friends may have fallen or climbed onto the tracks before the other apparently followed in an attempt to help.

One particularly puzzling detail came from the train operator. She reportedly told supervisors that Chitre appeared to be laughing as she pulled Kaul toward her while they were sitting on the tracks. The operator was unable to stop the approaching train in time.

Police are investigating several possibilities surrounding the pair’s behavior that night. Sources said detectives were examining whether they may have been heavily intoxicated and failed to recognize the danger of the approaching train. Authorities had also not ruled out the possibility of suicide, although no suicide notes were found.

No definitive explanation has been announced.

Friends say the behavior was completely out of character

The two were spotted sitting on the subway tracks at the Spring Street Station on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.

The circumstances have been especially difficult for those who knew Chitre and Kaul because both appeared to be moving forward with promising lives.

The pair were longtime friends who graduated from Rutgers in 2024. People close to them described their presence on the subway tracks as deeply inconsistent with the young adults they knew.

A neighbor of Kaul described him as a financial analyst who appeared to be “doing everything right,” while another person familiar with the pair said both seemed to be doing well and had their entire lives ahead of them.

Chitre had begun working as a quality operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals while studying toward a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Temple University. Her social media documented time with family, celebrations with her dog and a recent summer trip through Europe.

A neighbor who remembered Chitre from her high-school years described her as a “bright, smart girl” and expressed disbelief over how she could have ended up on the tracks.

Kaul remembered as charismatic and down-to-earth

Malaika Chitre is seen in an undated LinkedIn photo.Facebook/Malaika Chitre

Kaul had worked as a financial data analyst at Bloomberg on a contract that ended in May, according to the article.

A former high-school friend remembered him as a funny, charismatic and “down-to-earth guy” who brought good energy whenever he was around.

Navam Kaul is seen in an undated Instagram photo.Instagram/Nav

Another family acquaintance was equally baffled by the circumstances, insisting there was nothing in Kaul’s life that would have suggested such an ending.

For now, the central question remains unanswered: what happened in the hours before two friends with new careers and seemingly promising futures ended up sitting together on the tracks of a Lower Manhattan subway station?

Investigators continue to examine the circumstances, while the city medical examiner had not responded to requests for information about the pair’s cause of death at the time of the report.