A 10-member gang of dacoits struck terror and looted the passengers of Chennai Express between Guntur and Piduguralla Railway Stations in the wee hours of Tuesday.
According to a complaint lodged with the Secunderabad Railway Police by some of the victims, the dacoits committed the daring robbery due to lack of police escorts in the train, which was coming from Chennai to Secunderabad. The passengers were relieved of their gold jewels and cash at the knife point when the train suddenly stopped near Thummalacheruvu.
Preliminary investigations revealed that as many as 10 dacoits traveled in the train. After the train crossed Guntur, the dacoits seemed to have pulled the chain and forced it to come to an abrupt halt. Immediately, the desperadoes jumped out of the train and brandishing knives and other deadly weapons threatened the passengers sitting near the windows and forced them to part with jewels, cash and other costly items and escaped in the cover of darkness.
The victims were stated to have been from S-5, S-9, S-11 and S-12 compartments. The passengers complained that the TC had neither cooperated nor came to their rescue in lodging a complaint with the police in the next station. It was also alleged that a few police escorts had disembarked at a railway station stating that their duty was over and soon after that the dacoits struck terror.
Speaking to the media after inspecting the train and also the place of the robbery, the Railway Police SP Shyam Prasad said orders have been issued to make adequate police escorts in the trains keeping in view the summer rush of passengers. He also said orders were also issued to the police escorts to shoot criminals at sight if such incidents recur in the running trains. Complaints from the victims were being received and only after that the total value to property looted could be assessed, he observed. (NSS)
