Yet another express train passing through Bihar was targeted by robbers late on Sunday night even as the police were clueless about the robbers who looted and injured passengers in an express train three days ago.
Armed robbers looted cash and valuables worth nearly Rs 10 lakh from passengers in the AC and sleeper coaches of the Howrah-Amritsar Express train at gunpoint, firing shots and injuring six people. Some robbers reportedly entered the train by breaking the glass windowpanes of the AC II-tier coaches when passengers were asleep.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, upon his return to Patna from Delhi, asked the police to conduct raids to apprehend the robbers involved in the two incidents. The robbery took place between Simultala and Lahaban stations in the southern Jamui district under the Eastern Railway’s Asansol division, close to the site of the robbery in the Sealdah-Delhi Lal Quilla Express in the wee hours of Friday. Police sources said the robbers, numbering about 25, perhaps boarded the train at Jasidih or Lahaban station.
Firing shots to frighten the passengers, the robbers forced dozens of passengers to empty their wallets and hand over their jewellery and other valuables. They also assaulted at least 10 passengers who resisted. Six passengers were injured and had to be hospitalised, sad sources.
The incident, happening at the time of a Maoist-called bandh in Jharkhand, was thought to be a handiwork of the Maoists, but confirmed reports made it clear that the Maoists had no hand in it.