The Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi express in which Rahul Gandhi was travelling was stoned tonight near Panipat, about 100 km from here, and the AICC general secretary was not in the three compartments which was hit.
There were no immediate reports of any injury to passengers while SPG sources said there was no threat to Rahul in the incident.
Some window panes of three coaches--C1, C2 and C4-- were broken when some children stoned the train while it was approaching a rail crossing near Ghokrunda station in Panipat district in Haryana, according to a Northern Railways spokesman here. The train was travelling at a speed of 20 km per hour at the time of the incident, he said.
The spokesman said 39-year-old Rahul was in the C-3 bogie amid reports that the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was not perturbed by the incident. Rahul was returning to the national capital from Ludhiana where he boarded the train after addressing youth congrress workers of Punjab. The spokesman said the train did not halt and continued with its journey.
Rahul was travelling in the Chair Car like he did in on the journey from New Delhi to Ludhiana practicing austerity taking a cue from his mother Sonia Gandhi and some Union ministers. The incident happened around 9.30 PM. The Railway spokesman said he spoke to the Train superintendent who informed him that Rahul appeared to be relaxed. The spokesman said some stones had landed inside the train.
According to some reports, the stone-throwers were youths in the age of group of 18 to 25 years. There were some confusion which of the three bogies were stoned though Rahul's coach was not hit. Some reports said the coaches hit were C-2,C-4 and C-7.
Meanwhile, Rahul returned to New Delhi on time at 2300 hours and there was a posse of security personnel on the platform and outside the station as the train carrying the Congress leader entered. A rope was thrown on three sides of the coach from which Rahul emerged and security personnel scuffled with a large number media persons to make way for him out of the platform.
There was another skirmish between the security personnel and the media persons when Rahul was getting into the car inside the station premises.
