Ranji player rams car onto Mumbai platform

Panic gripped thousands of commuters on Monday when a luxury car driven by a Ranji cricket player suddenly sped onto the platform No. 1 at Andheri station during the morning peak hour, officials said.

According to police, the incident occurred around 7.20 a..m when the vehicle suddenly came speeding onto the platform that was overflowing with commuters.

As people panicked and tried to run, the car driver - identified as Harmeet J. Singh - gained control over the vehicle and stopped it adjacent to the railway tracks where a suburban train was expected to arrive.

Singh, 25, is a resident of the suburbs and was later arrested, Western Railway's Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Alok Gupta told IANS.

He was whisked off from the scene by a posse of GRP and sent for a medical check up which revealed he was not inebriated at the time of the incident, Gupta added.

Singh has been booked under the Railway Act and was produced before the Andheri Magistrate Court which granted him bail in the evening.

There were no casualties among the commuters and many were seen gaping at the vehicle. Some clicked selfies with the car with a stationery local train in the background.

This is the second incident of its kind at Andheri in recent months. On November 25, a 35-year man, Rajesh Yadav, drove his Innova straight onto the platform No. 6 and narrowly escaped commuters' fury.

Andheri is one of the few railway stations in Mumbai which is on ground level and mostly parallel to the main roads outside the station area, with few barricades or other obstacles to prevent such incidents.

--IANS

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