Vadodara: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today tweeted that he had directed the Director General(DG) of Railway Protection Force(RPF) to probe into the death of one person at Vadodara railway station yesterday night during Hindi film actor Shah Rukh Khan’s film promotion there.

Prabhu said he had also directed to take stern action against any lapse.

Meanwhile, speaking to media persons, RPF official at Vadodara said: Crowd had started gathering from 9 pm. They were coming with platform ticket or general ticket for journey to nearby destination like Anand. At 9.30 around the ticket window had to be closed as preventive measure. In another preventive decision, Rajdhani Express in which actor Shah Rukh Khan was arriving was diverted to platform number 6 as there’s more space on platform 6 compared to platform number 2 where this train generally arrives for halt.

RPF official further said: We had to make space to allow cricketer brothers Irfan and Yusuf Pathan to reach railway coach in which Shah Rukh was traveling. The problem started occurring as soon as the train moved. Fans were conveyed that they were likely to have opportunity to shake hand with Shah Rukh or click selfie. When the train started leaving the platform fans thought Shah Rukh will give appearance once again. Shah Rukh after all had given appearance just for few seconds or so.

RPF official also added that RPF jawans were focused at keeping people away from the train as the narrow space between the train and platform could prove fatal for many of them if not pushed away.

Meanwhile, Asif, a cousin brother of victim Faridkhan who died at Vadodara railway station yesterday said, Faridkhan had not gone to railway station as a fan of Shah Rukh Khan. Faridkhan was there to see his niece.

It should be mentioned that former Councillor from Machchipith area of Vadodara Faridkhan Pathan was declared dead at Banker heart hospital yesterday night. He was taken to heart hospital after he complained breathlessness due to stampede at Vadodara railway station during chaos occurred at Shah Rukh Khan’s film promotion.

Shah Rukh Khan was on journey from Mumbai to Delhi in train and his social media team had worked overtime to gather maximum number of his fans to various railway stations on route. Youths claiming to be members of Shah Rukh Khan’s various fan clubs had gathered at Vadodara railway station in response to social media messages. Due to chaos, police had to do lathicharge lightly. Many passengers and common railway station users had difficult time to access the train due to overcrowd and chaos. They expressed feeling that railways must not allow trains for such promotion gimmicks in future. Two RPF cops had to be taken for medical care following chaos. Two women had also complained breathlessness and suffocation. One youth was seen with blood on his face.

Shah Rukh Khan is promoting his upcoming film Raees in which he plays a role of Muslim mafia-bootlegger-criminal based in Ahmedabad. The film has Pakistani actress.

Shah Rukh didn’t discontinue his promotion drive and reached Delhi railway station today morning. He expressed sad feeling about the death while speaking to media persons there.

DeshGujarat