Commuters had a tough time after Metro services came to a halt during the morning peak hours on Blue Line as a jilted lover committed suicide by jumping in front of the train at Rajouri Garden Metro station. Services were also hampered on Violet Line for some time due to technical glitches.
According to Metro officials, the incident happened at around 10.20 am at Rajouri Garden Metro station when a man in his mid thirties jumped in front of a Metro train approaching the station. The train was Noida City Center bound. “The driver applied the emergency brakes but the man was too close to the train to be saved,” said a senior officer, Delhi Metro. After the incident, Delhi Metro officials informed the cops who rushed him to nearby Kukreja Hospital from where he was referred to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. Here, he succumbed to injuries.
He was later identified as Pramod Kumar, a resident of Uttam Nagar. “We have recovered a suicide note from him that states the reason behind this extreme step. He mentioned that he was
committing suicide due to one-sided affair with a girl,” said a cop. Metro services were affected on the busy Blue Line which connects Noida and Vaishali in Ghaziabad with Dwarka besides connecting several important places in East Delhi, Central and New Delhi. According to Metro officials, services were affected for 15 minutes but due to the morning rush, the stations soon became heavily crowded.
The cascading effect of the crowd was also witnessed in stations like Mandi House where Blue Line connects with Violet Line and at Rajiv Chowk where it crosses the Red Line.
“Although Metro services started within half an hour of the incident, trains were so packed that it was difficult to board,” said Ramesh Kumar, a regular commuter from Laxmi Nagar.