A 36-year-old Rajasthan-based businessman was killed after he slipped while trying to board a train and was trapped between its footboard and the platform at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station here on Wednesday. While it is being alleged that the railway station did not have a proper crisis response team, the police have initiated inquest proceedings into the death.
Indore Intercity Express was being moved to platform No. 5 from the yard around 10 p.m. when Bhagwan Porwal, a resident of Kota, tried to board it. However, he could not enter the general compartment as its door was reportedly closed. As he lost his balance and slip-ped, he was trapped between the footboard and the platfo-rm and grabbed some distance before the train came to a halt.
Bystanders rushed to rescue Bhagwan, who was writhing in pain. When they could not pull him out, they raised an alarm hearing which the railway staff reached the spot. They initially tried to break the platform with a hammer and when it did not work, they attempted to remove the footboard using a metal cutter. The railway staff finally arranged a gas cutter and after a 90-minute long struggle, they finally managed to take him out. He was rushed in a Police Control Room van to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences' JPNA Trauma Centre where he succumbed to his injuries.
A railway official said all efforts were made to rescue Bhagwan, who landed himself in trouble by trying to board a moving train.
The victim's body was handed over to his relatives on Thursday. “Closed-circuit television camera records and if necessary, the footage of the entire rescue operation recorded by television news channels would be examined to reconstruct the entire sequence of events leading up to the death of the man,” said a police officer. Bhagwan was in the business of poly-bags.
