Ranchi: A group of 10-12 robbers carried out a brazen robbery, stealing belongings valued at Rs 76,000, and assaulting at least seven passengers aboard the Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi Express in Jharkhand's Latehar district, according to a railway official's statement on Saturday. The incident occurred late on Saturday night between the Latehar and Barwadih stations, situated within the Dhanbad division of the East Central Railway (ECR). The gang instilled fear among passengers by firing shots into the air near Chhipadohar station, leading to injuries among those on board.

One of the victims on the train reported to the news agency that many passengers were subjected to violence by the robbers. Following the incident, passengers staged a protest upon the train's arrival at Daltonganj station, where it came to a stop for approximately two hours. The sub-divisional magistrate of Daltonganj, Rajesh Kumar Shah, who also arrived at the station, mentioned that the injured passengers were subsequently admitted to Medinirai Medical College and Hospital. He added that two of them were in a relatively serious condition.

Amresh Kumar, the senior divisional commercial manager of the Dhanbad division, commented on the situation, saying, "The incident occurred in the S9 coach. Seven passengers suffered minor injuries, and belongings belonging to 13 passengers, valued at Rs 75,800, were looted." Authorities have initiated the process of filing a First Information Report (FIR) against the robbers. Kumar also revealed that the robbers had looted around eight mobile phones. Subsequently, a technical team is working on tracing the locations of these devices, as four of the stolen phones were found to be active the following morning.

Following the robbery, the perpetrators fled into the forest area after activating the train's emergency chain at Barwaadih railway station. Passengers who were aboard the train reported that all the robbers concealed their identities behind masks. They also described the robbers as likely belonging to the age group of 25 to 30 years, with a few being around 40 years old. Most of them appeared to be inebriated and were armed with homemade pistols and sturdy sticks to intimidate the train's passengers.

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