Dacoits attack train near Bangalore, passengers looted

An armed gang of dacoits attacked and looted passengers on a Guwahati-bound train near Bangalore on Tuesday.

Railway officials said a six-member gang of dacoits, armed with a country-made gun and knives, attacked the passengers on train after it had left Yeshwanthpur station on the outskirts of Bangalore. About 20 passengers in the general compartment of the Yeshwanthpur-Guwahati train were relieved of their jewellery, cash and other valuables.

“They abused and assaulted the passengers, injuring two of them with the butt of the gun. One passenger received a blow on the head while the other was hit on the legs. The injured passengers received treatment at Jolarpet in Tamil Nadu”, Divisional Commissioner of Railway Protection Force (RPF), Bangalore, B B Misra told reporters.

The dacoits are suspected to have boarded the weekly summer special train at Yeshwanthpur. After looting the passengers, the dacoits had fled the train by pulling the chain near Bangarpet and escaped under the cover of darkness.

According to RPF officials, the passengers in the general compartment of the train were mostly workers from Bihar returning home with their savings. The dacoits, after boarding the train, had befriended the unsuspecting passengers, before attacking and looting them.

In his complaint, one of the victims of the train robbery Mohammed Firoz Alam said the dacoits had taken away jewellery, cash and other valuables worth more than Rs 60,000. The Railway Protection Force had registered a complaint and was investigating the matter.

Railway officials said the dacoity on the Guwahati-bound train on Tuesday was not an isolated incident. For, six such instances of armed robberies on train had been reported last year. Attackers had used daggers, swords and choppers to terrorize train passengers in the past. Three armed robberies had been reported on the Bangalore-Jolarpet route, two on Bangalore-Dharmavaram route and one of Bangalore-Mysore route, officials said.