Punjab Mail passengers robbed, attacked by trio

Chaudhary lost all his money and his first night in the quest to reach Mumbai turned into a nightmare. “This is the first time my friends and I are visiting Mumbai to search for work. At 2 am, our train stopped about 10 kilometres away from Bhusaval railway station. One of our friends went to the washroom and was returning to his seat when we saw three men following him,” he said

Kalyan: Twenty-seven-year-old Ramsingh Chaudhary, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, dreamt of bagging a daily wage job in the city and was on his way to Mumbai on Punjab Mail on Saturday. However, things took an ugly turn after three unknown persons allegedly looted commuters off the train between Bhusawal and Kalyan.

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Chaudhary lost all his money and his first night in the quest to reach Mumbai turned into a nightmare. “This is the first time my friends and I are visiting Mumbai to search for work. At 2 am, our train stopped about 10 kilometres away from Bhusaval railway station. One of our friends went to the washroom and was returning to his seat when we saw three men following him,” he said.

“One of them pushed my friend ahead and slapped him. They then started checking his pants and took the money. We raised our voices, however, they drew a knife and started beating and slapping us. They then robbed us of whatever money we had,” Chaudhary said. He added that when a few commuters tried to stop them, the accused took them near the footboard and threatened to push them down.

Several victims decided to register a case and deboarded the train at Kalyan station.

According to the police, the incident happened in a general compartment where commuters lost two mobile phones and cash of around ₹19,600. “The accused were armed with a knife, beat up a few commuters and robbed mobile phones, cash and jewellery from them,” an officer from Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP) said. “All the complainants are from Uttar Pradesh and were coming to Mumbai for the first time to search for jobs. Several other passengers were also robbed, but very few decided to register a case.”

Senior police inspector, Mukesh Dhage, Kalyan GRP, said, “We have received a complaint from six passengers of Punjab Mail about a robbery. We have transferred the case to Bhusaval GRP as the incident happened in their jurisdiction.”

A GRP officer from Bhusaval said that they are checking CCTV footage of the stations and are examining a few suspects.