Railway employees at Dadpur, a halt station on the Kiul-Asansol main section of Eastern Railway, on Friday sent an ultimatum to the Danapur divisional office to take immediate steps to check rising crime in the station area.

The notice to the railway authorities came after 12 armed criminals raided the station, around 8km north of Jhajha in Jamui, and assaulted the employees in the small hours of Friday. They even threatened the officials to stop train services for some time. The criminals looted cellphones and wallets of the men on duty.

Following the incident, train services on the Kiul-Asansol section remained cut off between 1.30am and 4.18am. The Dadpur station remained totally cut off from the railway control. “We were on duty when the armed men entered the station around 1.10am and looted our mobiles and wallets with Rs 300 in cash. They also beat up Ramvaran, a porter, and snatched his cellphone. Later, they locked us inside the waiting room. They also threatened us not to talk to anyone for the next two hours,” said P. Pandit, the station master of Dadpur.

He added: “When the criminals were beating us up, 13005 Up Howrah-Amritsar Mail stopped at the station for no track clearance. A few criminals instructed us to give the clearance so that the train could leave.” Pandit said at 2.26am, the incident was reported to Jhajha station.

J. Ekka, the station master of Jhajha station, said: “We had withheld all trains via Dadpur halt on the section, as we didn’t have any link with the officials at the station. Even the signalling was defunct.” After receiving the message from Dadpur halt, Ekka, along with Railway Protection Force inspector, Jhajha post, P.K. Gupta, and Government Railway Police, station house officer of Jhajha, S.B. Choudhary, proceeded to Dadpur from Jhajha on a light engine around 2.30am.

“Post-verification, we gave the clearance for the Down track around 4.10am and later at 4.18am, the second track (Up) was cleared,” Ekka said.

“Thursday’s incident is not something new. We have to face such situations frequently. We have tendered our protest to senior officers as well as officials of Railway Karamchari Union, an organisation of railway employees, at Danapur. It is not possible for us to work under such conditions,” Pandit said.

Choudhury said the incident was not a Maoist-related case. “We have started investigation and hope to nab the criminals soon,” he said.

The incident comes a week after railway employees of Narganjo and Ghorparan station on the same section threatened a strike against the inadequate security arrangements to counter Maoists in the area.

On March 23, armed criminals had looted passengers on 13186 Down Jaynagar-Sealdah Gangasagar Express. The criminals entered the general compartment when the train had stopped at Dadpur.