Bihar train robbery: Dacoits loot Lal Quila express

In a major railway security breakdown on early Friday morning, a large number of armed men, said to be more than 50, stormed into the AC coaches of an express train in Bihar and robbed the passengers at gun point.

The dacoits beat up the passengers who resisted.

At least 25 of them have been injured. One passenger has got gunshot injuries.

The Howrah- Delhi Lal Quila express was on its way to Delhi when the robbery happened between Bansipur and Bhalui railway stations in Bihar's Lakhisarai district.

One Jawan of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has been shot by the dacoits.

When the train reached Kiul station, angry passengers barged into the station master's office and ransacked it.

They alleged that there was no government railway police or railway protection force escort on the train.

Several train robberies have taken place in Bihar but this is said to be by far the biggest. and that too after rail security was meant to have been stepped up after the recent Maoist attacks.

Here is how the Howrah- Delhi Lal Quila express was looted.

Four robbers got into the train at Jamui railway station, but passengers and the jawans overpowered them.

Two, the police said, were caught, the other two managed to escape.

According to the police, those who got away later alerted their accomplices, and the train was robbed at the next halt. At that station, there was only one RPF jawan posted.

Police sources say of the 275 trains that need security in Bihar, only 15 per cent are patrolled by the RPF and the rest by the Bihar police. Which they say, simply does not have the manpower to patrol every train.

The police say there was one escort party of four jawans on the Lal Quila Express from Howrah to Delhi. But the jawans were unarmed. And as such sitting ducks for a mob of 50 armed dacoits.