Mumbai: 'Confused' cricketer drives car onto station platform

A 24-year-old cricketer was on Monday arrested for allegedly driving his car onto a platform of the railway station in Andheri, Mumbai, causing chaos during the morning rush hour, police said.

Harmeet Singh, who represented India in the ICC Under-19 world cup in 2012, drove the car directly onto platform number one of the busy station at around 7.20 am, they said.

As soon as Harmeet drove into the platform, commuters confronted him and RPF officers immediately reached the spot, confiscated the car and arrested Singh, a senior RPF official said.

The officer added, "The driver claimed that he got confused with the direction and ended up entering the station."

A Hindustan Times report quoted a police official saying, "He is from Punjab. He lives in Malad. He seems new to Mumbai. As of now, it looks like he did it by mistake. We see no other reason behind it. He has been arrested."

He has been booked under sections 147 (trespass), 145 (b) (commits nuisance and act of indecency), 154 (endangering safety of passengers) and other relevant provisions of the Railway Act, the official added.

Ravinder Bhakar, Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO), Western Railway confirmed the development , after repeated accidents we decided to barricade the area he informed.

Earlier in November 2016, 36-year-old Rajesh Yadav drove into the same platform in his car (then labelled as platform number 6) at Andheri station, thinking it was an actual road.

Singh made his debut in first class cricket for Mumbai in Ranji trophy. Presently, he is representing Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy.

Singh played for the Rajasthan Royals in the year 2013. He was also questioned about his alleged involvement in the spot fixing scandal in which Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, Ajit Chandila and 17 other people including 14 alleged bookies were arrested by the Delhi Police.

The bookie, however, had said that because of Singh's young age the idea to approach him was dropped.

The cricketer was later given a clean chit by the BCCI.

Photographs: Courtesy Twitter