Oct. 27: The Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani Express was stopped and its approximately 600 passengers held hostage for over six hours by the Maoist-backed tribal organisation People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district.
The Maoist-supported PCAPA was demanding the release of its leader, Chhatradhar Mahato. On being contacted, PCAPA spokesperson Asit Mahato claimed responsibility for the incident and said: "We stopped the train, but have not abducted the driver. The train had violated the indefinite strike that we had called in the three districts demanding Chhatradhar Mahato’s release."The New Delhi-bound Rajdhani had left Kharagpur station at 2 pm. At around 2.35 pm, all contact with the train was lost. All that the South Eastern Railway could gather was that some miscreants had halted the train at Banshtala PH Halt, a station between Sardia and Jhargram.The six-hour detention drama ended after the Union home ministry rushed Central forces to the spot in West Midnapore district amidst reports that the two drivers of the train had been allegedly abducted by the PCAPA. Nearly 3,000 Central and state police forces were rushed to the spot to sanitise the area and carry out a search for the train drivers. The train was secured by security forces at around 7.30 pm Tuesday.Union home minister P. Chidambaram said late on Tuesday evening that the passengers on board were safe and that the railways has rushed a relief train to bring them back. "The train is safe. All passengers are safe... Good news is the train is safe," said Mr Chidambaram, who monitored the situation from New Delhi. There is no sign of any adversary at the scene, he said. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, monitoring the train detention drama from her Rail Bhavan office in New Delhi, said she was willing to speak to those who had detained the train when the drama began. Noting that the incident was a law and order issue of the state government, the Trinamul chief said the train passengers were her priority.Denying reports of an exchange of fire between the security forces and cadres of the Maoist front, Mr Chidambaram said: "There was firing and a civilian driver was injured, but there was no injury to CRPF personnel and there was no exchange of fire."To bring the stranded passengers to the national capital, railway officials said a relief train, along with another train which will run ahead to check for track sabotage and explosives, had been despatched Doctors, relief supplies and food have also been sent for the stranded Rajdhani, said officials.Initially the driver, assistant driver and guard were rumoured to have been abducted by the Maoists. However, it was later found that the trio’s mobile phones and wireless sets had been snatched by PCAPA men and they were made to sit on the platform of Banshtala railway station where the train had been forcibly stopped.Union home secretary G.K. Pillai on Tuesday said there is no question of the government caving in to the PCAPA’s demands for the release of Chhatradhar Mahato, arrested by the West Bengal police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after declaring him a Maoist.This jolt to the West Bengal government comes just a week after two officials of Sankrail police station were killed and the officer in charge of the same police station was abducted by the Maoists. However, unlike the previous instance where the government had buckled under Maoist pressure and released 14 tribal women to release the OC, the train hijacking episode ended smoothly on Tuesday night when the police managed to rescue all passengers safely."The Rajdhani was stopped by the PCAPA. But they had made no official communication with the state demanding anyone’s release," said West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh. However, by the time the police forces reached the spot, all the PCAPA members had fled, taking with them food and blankets from the train. Before leaving, they had also wrote slogans in favour of Chhatradhar Mahato on the train."The train was moving at 110 kmph when we saw around 300-400 people on the track waving red flags. I applied the brakes," Rajdhani driver K. Ananda Rao said later on Tuesday night. Soon a group of these people, who were carrying bows and arrows, came up inside my cabin, took away our cell phones and wireless set and asked the driver, his helper and the guard to get down, added Ananda."There were so many tribals that it was difficult to identify who was their leader. All we were told to do was to sit and not start the train till ordered," said the guard.On the other hand, top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao, alias Kishanji, categorically distanced himself from the incident and claimed the Maoists were "not behind the stopping of the train".