Radhika Ruidas, of Pandua, in Hooghly, one of the three passengers drugged and robbed. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Three passengers were reportedly drugged and robbed on the Kamrup Express and were found unconscious when the train reached Howrah station on Friday morning.

A Government Railway Police (GRP) team admitted the trio to Howrah District Hospital.

Two of them have been identified as Dilip Mandal, 45, a resident of Durgapur, and Radhika Ruidas, 30, a resident of Pandua, in Hooghly. Ruidas works in the Border Security Force. The condition of the third, yet to be identified, was critical.

“Mandal and Ruidas were in a daze when they recalled Thursday night’s experience. We will talk to them again after they recover and then lodge a case,” said Prabir Ghosh, the officer-in-charge of Howrah GRP.

The three had boarded the train at Guwahati on Thursday morning. They told the police that three men had boarded their compartment at Malda town around midnight.

The new passengers soon befriended Mandal, Ruidas and the third victim and offered them tea. The trio fell unconscious after drinking the tea.

“The cheats must have fled with the bags of the trio after the train reached Howrah,” said an officer.

“We are conducting raids in search of those who duped Mandal, Ruidas and the other passenger. The trio should have refused the tea. We repeatedly request passengers through the public address system not to accept anything from unknown co-passengers,” said Ghosh.

Sankar Singha, the superintendent of railway police, said: “There are several gangs active in the Eastern and South Eastern railways who rob passengers after offering them tea or biscuits laced with sedatives.”