Vikash Roy (left) and Mintu Roy at the medical college in Siliguri. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Sept. 24: Five youths were drugged and robbed of their belongings, including Rs 17,000, at New Jalpaiguri station (NJP) last night with police groping in the dark as the victims are yet to come out of the sedative-induced stupor.

All of them are currently recuperating at North Medical College and Hospital where they were sent this morning by GRP which had first admitted them to the railway hospital near the station, 7km from Siliguri.

They were spotted around 8am — three on the floor in front of the ticket counter and two others on a platform.

Doctors at both the hospitals said sedatives had been used to make the youths unconscious.

Krishna Roy, Vikash Roy and Mintu Roy, residents of Changrabandha and Mainaguri of Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts, were on their way back from Ganganagar in Rajasthan where they had gone to work under a contractor.

“Yesterday around 9pm we got down at NJP,” Krishna said drowsily from the floor of the male medicine ward this afternoon.

“We decided to have dinner and spend the night on the platform before heading for our homes this morning. We had dinner at an eatery outside the station. After we came back, I don’t seem to recount much anything,” he said.

Although Vikash could manage to mumble that they were on vacation, Mintu could not speak at all.

Krishna claimed that between the three of them they had lost Rs 15,000 besides their luggage.

Md Kayamuddin, a resident of Koshinagar in Bihar, was supposed to board the Awadh Assam Express from New Jalpaiguri station at 6pm, but missed the train after he was drugged.

“I work at Rangpo in Sikkim in a private company. I was waiting for my train, when three persons approached me. They tried to get friendly and offered me tea and biscuits. Initially I refused, but later I had one biscuit from them. After that I don’t remember anything,” he said.

Like the other three, Kayamuddin too has lost his luggage and Rs 2,000. Firoj Khan, the fifth youth, was in a stupor and could not speak. Except for Kayamuddin who looked in his early 30s, the others seemed to be in the age group of 20-30 years.

“It seems they lost their senses after they were given some sort of sedatives mixed in food or beverage. We are keeping them under observation. Their condition is stable,” said an on-duty doctor at the medical college.

The GRP has increased its vigil and also contacted the NJP police outpost to raid areas outside the station. “We are trying to find out whether they were targets of individuals operating independently or victims of a big racket,” said Pinaki Majumdar, the inspector-in-charge of the New Jalpaiguri GRP.