Patna/Howrah: In a throwback to the dark days of near-complete lawlessness in Bihar, the high-profile Delhi-Kolkata Duronto Expressway was allegedly looted at gun-point by armed robbers on the outskirts of Patna last night.
The miscreants decamped with valuables and luggage of several hapless passengers.
According to eye witnesses, the incident took place on train number 12274 at around 3 am on Sunday. After the train had halted near Patna, over 20 armed robbers allegedly climbed into six to seven bogies and looted the belongings of passengers.
When questioned by train passengers, the driver said someone had pulled the emergency chain to stop the train before almost two dozen robbers climbed into the bogies.
Several passengers had their luggage and other belongings forcibly taken away. Passengers have claimed that Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel – responsible for the security of trains – had deboarded at Patna, shortly before the ill-fated train was stopped and looted.
The passengers have lodged several complaints after the train eventually reached Howrah.
“An incident did take place near Patna in which belongings of some passengers were snatched away. Several passengers have lodged complaints with the GRP at Patna. However, since the incident area is not a part of our jurisdiction, we have forwarded those complaints to Danapur,” a GRP official from Howrah told Firstpost.
The workers in the pantry car have claimed that they were threatened at gunpoint when the train was the target of another robbery bid around a month ago.
Eyewitness recounts frightening ordeal
“There were GRP personnel on the train till Patna. At Patna, the GRP personnel got off the train after warning the passengers that they need to hide away their mobile phones and chargers,” Somnath Kayal, a businessman from Kolkata who was on the train, told Firstpost.
“Around 10 kilometres after the train had left Patna, there was a sudden commotion in the train and I saw people running around. Tthe train stopped soon after and several people from outside got on to some of the bogies. They snatched the belongings of several passengers,” he added.
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