Rajiv Gaur, executive president of Jaiprakash Associates, part of the Rs 20,000-crore Jaypee Group, fell off the footboard of the Dakshin Express near here today and died, after being unable to enter the bolted door of a II-AC coach of the moving train.
The railway authorities have suspended the station master at Mandi Bamora, the place where he seems to have tried to board. However, they said Gaur was also criminally negligent himself, in what he’d attempted to do. They have initiated a formal probe to confirm the sequence of events and to fix responsibility.
Rajiv Choudhary, divisional railway manager, told Business Standard: “According to preliminary information, after missing the train at Bina station, he chased the train and reached Mandi Bamora, the next station, where he tried successfully to board the moving train by catching the grab-bar at the door. Unfortunately, it was not his coach and was closed from inside. He had no option but to travel on the footboard but he could not maintain the hold and fell off the train a km away from the next station, Kulhar (50 km from here). He probably died on the spot.
“We do not expect any passenger to travel on the footboard, in whatever condition; we also have received information that he boarded the train from a level-crossing in Mandi Bamora and not from the railway station. But we have yet to ascertain it and find the exact reasons. The matter is under investigation.
“We have been informed that his (Gaur’s) staff had already informed the station manager. It is under investigation, why they did not stop the train immediately to save a passenger’s life.”
