In a bizarre incident, a poor man reportedly travelled about 300 kms, from Itarsi to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He is said to have clung under the train’s bogie, placing himself between the wheels of the Patna bound Pune Danapur Express on Thursday.
The yet to be identified man was caught during a routine ‘rolling test’ in which personnel check the undercarriage, near the Jabalpur railway station. The staff of the Carriage and Wagon department found the man hiding under the coach.
Till the filing of this report the incident was being probed by the Railway Protection Force (RPF). The RPF and railway officials said employees were conducting a routine under-gear check of the coaches when they found the man lying in the trolley beneath the S4 coach of Danapur Express. The identity of the man was not revealed who has admitted to board the train at Itarsi but he confessed to travel in that manner since he had no money.
The video of the man coming out from under the trolley went viral on social media. The video has left the netizens perplexed, with some calling him ‘Bangladeshi’ and ‘Rohingya’, and others questioning the need to undertake such a lethal stunt for want of money. Some of them even blamed the railways saying it is still unable to provide an affordable journey for a poor man. Some others recalled that people travelling on the roof of train coaches, hanging on doors, in between the couplers, in front of the engine and in the guard carriages have been noticed, but this was a first of its kind that a man has risked genuinely to reach his destination.
Meanwhile, a railway official said it is not possible to man each and every train operation, “our system is quite porous on the stations and also along the tracks but thanks to the alert railway ground staff who on time saved the life of this man.
However, late on Friday evening a senior railway official of the Railway Board said that the man was mentally challenged and had entered the wheels under a stationary train. “It is not possible to travel on the axle point where the wheel moves,” the official said.
