Lucknow, July 9: Northern Railway officials were left in a state of panic after a red signal at Moradabad division did not turn green, leading to several trains from the east getting taking unprecedented halts. The faux pas was caused on Friday night after the station master at Murshadpur got "heavily drunk" and fell asleep.

RPF personnel, along with the station master of the neighbouring stop was rushed to the Murshadpur station to ascertain the reason behind the signal not being lifted. On their arrival, they found Deep Singh, the station master, sleeping with liquor bottles in the vicinity.

Singh was rushed to the government hospital where a test was conducted. High-level of alcohol was detected in his blood. Based on the medical report, the Northern Railways has suspended him for dereliction of duty. An inquiry has been ordered against him, confirmed a senior official.

"Such kind of behaviour on duty is unacceptable. There is zero tolerance level for this. We will take the strictest action," the official was reported as saying.

Among trains which were delayed include those plying on the Howrah-Jammu and Howrah-Dehradun routes, reports said. The trains resumed only after another station master took charge.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2018 10:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).