Stone pelted at Vande Bharat Express in Bihar’s Katihar

This is the second incident of stone pelting on Vande Bharat Express in Bihar within 20 days, and a complaint has been lodged under the Railway Act

In yet another incident of stone pelting on Vande Bharat Express, a New Jalpaiguri-Howrah train was targeted by unidentified miscreants in Bihar’s Katihar district on Friday evening, officials said.

The window panes of the C6 coach of the Vande Bharat Express train was damaged in the incident. (Sourced)

The incident happened between Dalkola and Telta railway stations of Katihar Rail division falling under the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), said officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

The window panes of the C6 coach of the train (22302) was damaged in the incident. A complaint has been lodged at the Dalkola post of the RPF in West Bengal under the Railway Act.

The semi-high speed electric train, running between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, passes through Bihar with a brief halt at Barsoi in Katihar district, adjoining Kishanganj.

This is the second such incident in Bihar within 20 days. Earlier on January 3, a coach of the Vande Bharat Express was vandalised by stone pelters near Kishanganj railway station.

Senior divisional security commissioner of Katihar rail division, Kamal Singh, told reporters that the stone pelting attack was reported on Friday at around 4.45pm by local authorities. An investigation team of RPF rushed to the accident spot to know about the incident and reason behind it. “RPF scanned CCTV footage to identify the stone pelters. The RPF also sought help from Katihar SP Jitendra Kumar to identify the culprits,” said Singh.

“Investigation into the incident is being conducted by RPF along with state GRP (Government Railway Police) and the state police. RPF has also started awareness campaigns in some areas so that stone pelting cases can be stopped,” said Sabyasachi De, CPRO, NFR.

On January 5, three minor boys out of four were caught by the police in Kishanganj in connection with the January 3 incident of hurling stones at the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express train. The boys, residents of Nimalgaon in Potiya police station area, were later produced before the juvenile justice board.

Katihar superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Kumar said police are verifying the reported incident and waiting for a detailed report from the railways.