Chinsurah, Feb. 27: A dacoit was crushed under the wheels of a local train last night when he jumped off it to escape arrest after being surrounded by police.

Government Railway Police personnel had boarded the Howrah-Bandel train around 8pm following a tip-off that a gang of seven was planning to rob a businessman who was carrying Rs 2.5 lakh.

“We got into the train in plain clothes and spotted the gang in a compartment that was not very crowded,” said Somnath Bhattacharya, the railway police officer-in-charge in Sheoraphuli, Hooghly.

Revolvers in hand, the policemen closed in on the gang.

The seven realised they had been cornered and two of them made a dash for the door. “Then, they jumped out of the running train,” Bhattacharya said.

Abhijit Mondal, 24, was run over by the train while his mate fled.

The police arrested the five other dacoits. All seven were wanted in several cases of train robbery, the police said.

The GRP later found Mondal’s blood-soaked body on the tracks between Hooghly and Chinsurah stations.

One loaded pipegun and a dagger were found on the dacoits.