Angry at not being able to find a seat in the general compartment of a train, two brothers got into a fight with some of their fellow passengers and then hatched a plan. Their ploy bombed so spectacularly, however, that not only did they spark panic and delay the train by over 40 minutes, but they also did not get a seat and ended up in prison instead.
Officials said Deepak Chauhan, who works as a mechanic in Ludhiana and his brother Ankit, who is employed at a factory in Noida, boarded the Amrapali Express, which runs between Amritsar and Katihar in Bihar, in Delhi on Thursday night.
They did not get a seat and, by the time the train rolled into Uttar Pradesh's Etawah about four hours later, even got into a fight with some fellow passengers. Deepak and Ankit, who are from Ghatampur in UP, told the police that they then decided to call the police control room and report that there was a bomb in the train, hoping this would make some passengers get off and secure them a seat.
After they received the call, several teams, including from the bomb squad and the fire brigade, reached Kanpur Central station. The train was stopped, all passengers were asked to disembark, and each coach was checked thoroughly for 40 minutes. When nothing suspicious was found, the train was allowed to leave.
Seeing the huge police presence, Deepak and Ankit switched off their phones. They decided not to board the train and hide in Kanpur's Faithfulganj instead.
Police began their investigation and tried to locate the cellphone from which the call was made, but with no luck. On Friday morning, however, the brothers switched their phones on and were traced and arrested.
"They don't have a criminal record but, given the seriousness of the matter, the Anti Terrorist Squad is also interrogating them," said Assistant Commissioner of Police Akanksha Pandey
