The Delhi-Kolkata Duronto Expressway was reportedly looted at gunpoint by armed robbers on the outskirts of Patna in the early morning hours of October 16, 2022. The incident took place on train number 12274 at around 3 am on Sunday.
The incident was a throwback to the dark days of Bihar’s jungle raj. On questioning it was found that someone had pulled the emergency chain to stop the train following which almost two dozen robbers climbed into the bogies.
After the train had halted near Patna, over 20 armed robbers apparently climbed into six to seven bogies and looted the belongings of passengers. Several passengers had their luggage and other belongings forcibly taken away. Passengers have claimed that Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel who are responsible for the security of trains had deboarded at Patna, shortly before the train was stopped and looted. The passengers lodged several complaints after the train 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.
“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. Around 10 kilometres after the train had left Patna, there was a sudden commotion in the train and I saw people running around. The train stopped soon after and several people from outside got onto some of the bogies. They snatched the belongings of several passengers,” said eyewitness Somnath Kayal, a businessman from Kolkata who was on the train.
(Featured Image Source: News18)
(This story has been reproduced here with permission from Hindu Post.)
