Some lost lives, some properties. For some, the April 25 temblor, which hit Nepal, snatched away the very profession, which used to be their source of livelihood.

The cases of a group of such small-time fruit-sellers suggest so.

The earthquake victims snatched away all their fruits after the quake, forcing them to abandon the Himalayan country and come back to their original abodes in India.

During an impromptu interaction with The Telegraph at a relief camp in the border town, the poor souls narrated their tale.

"Even though the earthquake had damaged my rented accommodation in Sarlahi district of Nepal, I continued with my work of selling fruits while moving on my bicycle. Things, however, started deteriorating Sunday onwards when local people started snatching whatever edible items they could found. People like me became soft target of local people and all my fruits were taken away by a group," said Prem Lal Choudhary (43), a native of Sitamarhi district.

Having lost his very source of livelihood, Prem was on way back to his native place and was found in the relief camp having been set up at Raxaul, 210km north of Patna.

The story of Amir Ansari, a native of East Champaran district, has some more elements of agony. This 40-something fruit-seller had shown the gumption and continued with fruit selling even after the quake, a business he had started in Kathmandu five years back. "All my fruits were taken away by local residents and my effort to chase them added to my problem as I fell down and got one of my legs fractured," Ansari said.

This poor soul went to a nearby relief camp where he was treated and then he decided to come back to India. The bitter experience is still fresh in his mind and this resident of East Champaran has vowed not to go back to Nepal.

Before leaving the relief camp after having lunch, Amir, who was seen walking with the help of an aluminium crutch, said most of the small traders had gone through somewhat similar experience. Several such dejected souls, coming from the devastated parts of Nepal, had a new story to tell but the essence was same. "A few minutes of nature's fury changed things for worse," said one of them.

Raj Mangal Thakur (40) of Lalitpur and Mohammad Jammir (39) of Kathmandu, respectively, had gone through similar incidents in which their fruits business were perished. Raj Mangal, originally from Muzaffarpur district, said: "Twenty-one people used to depend on my fruit business and we all every happy. However, the earthquake took everything from us. The house got damaged and the business got over, courtesy to the local residents who had forced us to leave the country forever."

Jammir, who belongs to Sheohar district, echoed the same and said the situation was not so worse that they had to snatch the fruits. "Nobody can justify that just because the local people and victims had no food. How can they had the right to snatch the food of others?," said Jammir.