More than four dozen passengers of one general bogie of the Up Howrah Jabalpur express train was robbed of at 2.30 am tonight between Koomandi and Hehegara railway station under Dhanbad railway division.
The railway traffic inspector AK Sinha while confirming this said that the robbers decamped with Rs 70,000 to Rs 75,000 as claimed by the victim passengers. Three passengers were injured with lathis by the robbers he further informed.
The express train was chain pulled at railway pole number 234/15 and about two dozen robbers got into this bogie. Sinha said the chain pulling was done by a man travelling as a passenger in the same general bogie. Once the train halted at pole number 234/15 the robbers began looting the passengers. Here the train remained stopped for 30 minutes.
Painful of all the train had in it a police escort party but it did not strike at all. Sources said had the escort police party reacted the robbery bid would have been foiled or robbers at least given a chase but none of the two things happened. Railway sources said the police escort team should have reacted fast as three things were most noticeable at this pole.
First an express train had halted at railway pole at the dead of night like 2.30 am. Second two dozen people standing at this pole had got into the general bogie. These people must have taken two to three minutes time to board this general bogie Third the train was there for 30 minutes.
The police escort party had all the things to arouse theitr suspicions but it did not act at all. The robbers escaped from the same railway pole where the robbers had chain pulled it added the railway traffic inspector.