BENGALURU: Thousands of Namma Metro passengers on the Purple Line faced hardship Friday morning as BMRCL partially suspended services between Mysuru Road and Challaghatta for nearly one-and-a-half hours after a design engineer jumped on the tracks and ended his life at Kengeri station.Shantagoud Police Patil, 38, was crushed under the driver’s cabin of a train moving towards Majestic and dragged for about 20m around 8.15am. He died on the spot.Metro officials alerted local police, and an ambulance arrived soon. Once legal procedures were completed, the body was removed from the tracks, and operations were restored around 9.40am. A BMRCL official said, “After parking his two-wheeler at the station, the passenger purchased a token and accessed the platform area. When the train was fast approaching around 8.15am, he jumped in front of it and came under the driver’s cabin. He suffered serious injuries and died on the tracks.”The disruption, during the morning peak time, severely affected regular travellers, including office-goers and students. Services were halted at seven Metro stations, and security staff were seen advising passengers to make alternative travel arrangements.Praveen Kumar, who was travelling to the Pattanagere station, said, “Our train was short-terminated at Mysuru Road station. It is high time BMRCL installed platform screen doors to avert such incidents.”However, BMRCL has remained non-committal on installing such barriers, citing operational constraints and high costs.Police said Patil worked at a private firm in Bidadi for the past two weeks. He was living with his wife and one-and-half-year-old daughter at a friend’s apartment at Doddabele village. According to his wife (Preethi), he was distressed over a number of issues, including finances. He earlier worked at a private firm in Vadodara, Gujarat, before quitting the job a year ago. He did not leave a death note, but based on medical reports provided by his wife, police believe he took the extreme step because of depression, a senior officer said.(If you have suicidal thoughts or are need emotional support, call suicide-prevention helplines — Tele-Manas: 14416 / 1800-891-4416 or Sahai: 080-25497777)