GRP inspector took money to ferry migrant workers to Allahabad by train during lockdown: RPF

The railways on Friday said a GRP inspector took money from desperate migrants to ferry them to their hometowns in an empty train even as all passenger services of the national transporter remained suspended in view of the nationwide lockdown.

CCTV footage at the New Delhi railway station showed that the inspector of the Government Railway Police (GRP) facilitated around 45 people to get aboard an empty rake of the Magadh Express on Thursday, the railways said.

"They assembled at the GRP chauki, near metro gate number 1 of the New Delhi railway station. Then they moved to platform number 16 through an opening for construction work. When the RPF personnel saw this, additional force was called and all of them were de-boarded from the train and ousted from the station. The train is still at the station," Northern Railway Spokesperson Deepak Kumar said.

Sources said across the railway network, around 600 empty rakes were stranded away from their home bases and the local railway authorities had come under pressure to allow migrant workers to travel to their homes on these rakes.

In an order, the railways has stopped the movement of all empty rakes.

"The CCTV footage showed that he (the GRP inspector) took money from the contractor to facilitate the workers to board the train, but was spotted by RPF personnel, who immediately deboarded them. The DCP, Railways and the Delhi Police have been informed and necessary action will be taken by them," RPF DG Arun Kumar told PTI.

Sources said the inspector took Rs 500 each from the desperate workers and shoved them into the rakes, which were not going anywhere.

The workers were promised to be taken to Allahabad, where the train was supposed to be returning along with some operating crew and onboard staff, the sources added.