Mumbai: Drunk man jumps 30 feet from Ghatkopar metro station to escape fine, fractures knee

Mumbai: An 18-year-old man jumped off the concourse of Ghatkopar metro station after he was found “tailgating” at the automatic fare collection gate and was being taken for questioning by the security personnel on Sunday. The man, identified as Rajkumar, a native of Odisha, survived with a fractured knee and is recuperating at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in the suburb. The distance between the concourse level and the ground is about 30 feet, a Mumbai Metro official said on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_1601601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Explaining the incident, he said Rajkumar panicked as the automatic fare collection (AFC) gate at Ghatkopar metro station didn’t open after he inserted the token, following which the security personnel on duty caught him and were taking him for questioning, when he escaped and jumped off the concourse. “The commuter had claimed he had boarded the metro from Sakinaka station. After getting down at Ghatkopar metro station, he inserted the electronic token in the AFC gate, but it didn’t open as it could not detect the token,” he said. The Mumbai Metro, which operates the metro services, stated that Rajkumar was drunk at the time of the incident which occurred around 8.30 pm. “At around 8.30 pm, a man under the influence of alcohol was tailgating the AFC gate at Ghatkopar station. When the security personnel nabbed him and were taking him for questioning, he tried to escape and jumped off the concourse level to the road. We immediately called an ambulance and informed the police. The man is being treated in Rajawadi Hospital,” a Mumbai Metro spokesperson said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Metro official said the AFC gate did not open because as per rules, a commuter has to begin and finish his journey within one hour from the time of issuance of a token, which automatically becomes invalid after one hour. “In this case, it is most likely that the commuter was wandering at different stations thus exhausting his one hour window (when he reached Ghatkopar),” the official said.