Midnapore, May 22: A univ- ersity student standing at a door of a Howrah-Tatanagar Steel Express coach and a CRPF jawan were hit this evening when Maoists opened fire on a police patrol at a station 10km from Jhargram.

Pallab Tripathi, 23, who is doing his MSc at Vidyasagar University, was hit in the leg, as was Khetra Ram, 35.

“The train was slowly passing through Banstala station when the firing began around 8pm,” a railway police officer said.

A Calcutta bank official going home for the weekend said the passengers dropped to the floor in fear after hearing gunshots close to the train. “We were very frightened and lay on the floor for nearly 10 minutes as the train moved out of the place,” said Debdas Roychowdhury.

The passengers protested after they reached Jhargram, where Tripathi and Ram were hospitalised. “They are out of danger,” said a doctor.

It was in Banstala that the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani had been held up by Maoists for several hours last October.