New Delhi Station Stampede: Railways Probing If Fake News Caused Accident, Says Union Minister

New Delhi: Even as the Railway Board formed a two-member committee to investigate Saturday night’s killer stampede at New Delhi railway station, Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said that the Railways is probing whether the mishap was the result of ‘fake news’ being propagated.

Union minister Sukanta Majumdar on Sunday said that the ministry of railways is probing whether “fake news” was propagated, resulting in a stampede at the New Delhi railway station on Saturday.

“It is a very sad incident. We and our government are very sad. The Rail Ministry is investigating this incident to understand if any conspiracy or fake news was propagated that caused such an incident… The Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is extremely capable of his position,” Majumdar told ANI.

The railways said the committee – comprising Northern Railway’s Principal Chief Commercial Manager Narsingh Deo and its Principal Chief Safety Commissioner Pankaj Gangwar – has initiated a High-Level Inquiry (HAG) into the incident. As part of the investigation, the committee has sought all video footage from the station, ANI reported.

Delhi Police’s explanation

According to Delhi Police, two trains with a common name of ‘Prayagraj’ and the announcement of one of those arriving at platform 16 led to confusion that caused a stampede, killing 18 people.

It was announced that Prayagraj Special was arriving at platform 16, while Prayagraj Express was already at platform 14 preparing to depart. That resulted in confusion and doubts among passengers, said police.

Passengers who hadn’t reached platform 14 to board Prayagraj Express thought it was arriving at platform 16. The last-minute panic-driven movement of people with heavy luggage from one platform to another led to the stampede, police said.

Also, there were four trains heading to Prayagraj, of which three were delayed, leading to heavy crowding from platforms 12 to 16.

Northern Railway clarified that no platform of any train was changed, as was being spoken about, and a passenger fell on the footover bridge between platforms 14 and 15, causing others behind him to stumble, leading to the tragic incident.