MUMBAI, May 31: Indian police said on Monday they were investigating the death of a female British film director who was knocked down by a train while helping to shoot a Bollywood film.

Police said Nadia Khan, 27, was hit by a train at the suburban Mumbai railway station of Mahalakshmi last Tuesday while filming "Bombay Central", a film about urban commuters.

Controversy over the incident was fuelled as media reports said director Kaizad Gustad's crew was filming at the station without permission and had reported the death as a road, rather than a rail, accident.

Nadi Khan, a Briton of Pakistani descent, was working as an assistant to director Gustad, who last year made box office movie flop "Boom" starring Amitabh Bachchan.

A police official confirmed the incident was initially reported to police as a road accident, adding: "I can't reveal many details of the case now as our investigations are ongoing, but I can tell you it is a case of a train accident."

The Mid-Day newspaper said Nadi Khan had walked onto the tracks with a camera and was talking on her mobile phone when she was killed. "She was speaking on the phone and had gone nearly 50 metres north of the station when a train coming from behind hit her. She fell on the side of the tracks with the camera on her," a witness said. -AFP