One of the smashed windowpanes of the Lal Quila Express . (Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey)

Patna, Aug. 6: Horses waiting for a quick getaway, robbers in Bihar’s badlands struck a train from Calcutta early this morning: they pulled the chain to let in their accomplices, looted at will, fired in the air and, within 20 minutes, made off with cash and valuables after beating up passengers and police constables who tried to resist.

The gang of 40 robbed and thrashed passengers in four compartments — including an AC coach — of the New Delhi-bound Lal Quila Express in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district after stopping the train from Calcutta’s Chitpur at 4.18am.

Two of the robbers were caught by the passengers and the four unarmed securitymen on board and handed over to police. However, two more who had been caught broke free by shooting at a Government Railway Police (GRP) head constable and escaped. Jainuddin Mansuri took a bullet in the belly and is in hospital. The rest, armed with rifles and hammers, fled on horseback.

“I woke up after hearing the sound of firing. Before I could realise what was happening, two gun-toting men stormed into my AC coach and snatched my cellphone, gold chain and Rs 2,000 in cash,” said Bipin Bihari, a passenger.

The police said a few members of the gang had boarded the train at Jamui station. They stopped the train near Kundra halt, 15km away, by pulling the chain. As soon as the train came to a halt, their accomplices, who were waiting by the tracks, attacked the AC coach, smashed its windowpanes and barged in.

Two of the passengers who were assaulted by the robbers. Pictures by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

The gang then entered three non-AC sleeper coaches and robbed the passengers at gunpoint. Cash, ornaments and other valuables were snatched. When some passengers tried to raise the alarm, the dacoits hit them with rifle butts. The robbers assaulted 13 passengers in all. They are undergoing treatment at the railway hospital and in Patna, where the train reached this morning.

Subhash Yadav, who was travelling in coach S4, said: “I tried to resist and requested the robbers to at least stop misbehaving with the women. But one of them hit me on the head with a stick. They also kicked and slapped me.”

Jiaul Shah and his wife Zulekha, residents of Murshidabad, said they were jolted out of their sleep by gunshots and screams.

“The train stopped suddenly. More than 15 armed men entered our compartment and began to beat us up. The robbers were armed with pistols, daggers and sticks. I protested when they started misbehaving with my wife. Both of us were beaten up. They took everything I had,” Jiaul, who was travelling to Delhi, said.

His wife was too scared and shocked to speak. “The women are traumatised. The robbers molested them and snatched their jewellery,” another passenger said.

Some other victims said the gang fired in the air before robbing them.

Bihar director-general of police Neelmani said the train had an escort party of three constables and an officer, but they were unarmed.

When the train reached Kiul — the station after Kundra — the passengers ransacked the stationmaster’s office and demanded that the injured be attended to immediately. They alleged that there was no Railway Protection Force escort on the train.

The robbery come on the heels of a similar heist in Purulia on July 29. A gang of 30 had robbed and slashed passengers on an unguarded Tata-Chhapra Express.

Maoist abductions

Armed Maoists abducted the stationmaster of Purulia’s Urma and his deputy late on Friday but released them after an hour. Train services on the Asansol-Chhapra route were to remain closed till Saturday morning.