A criminal made an abortive attempt on the life of a Government Railway Police (GRP) havildar at Lakhisarai station platform on the Patna-Asansol main section of Eastern Railway, around 120km east of Patna, on Monday.

Jamalpur superintendent of railway police (SRP) Amitav Das, under whose jurisdiction Lakhisarai falls, said around 3.30am, Collector Singh, posted at Lakhisarai GRP, spotted four youths suspiciously loitering on the platform and chased them. Except one, the others managed to escape. The youth Singh caught was identified as Gopal Ram, a resident of Gola area in Mokama.

“When Singh was bringing Ram to the GRP post at the station, the youth suddenly took out a countrymade pistol hidden inside his trouser pockets and shot at the havildar before taking to his heels. But the GRP constables accompanying Singh caught Ram,” Das told The Telegraph.

Singh suffered a bullet injury in his abdomen and was referred to Patna for better treatment. “The doctors of Patna Medical College and Hospital have stated that he is out of danger now,” the SRP said.

He said interrogation of the youth was on and preliminary inquiries have revealed that police suspected him to be a petty criminal. “We are trying to ascertain the identities of the other youths who were accompanying Ram on the platform and managed to escape and also their motive. They must have some bad intention as no ordinary person moves on the railway platform with countrymade pistol at an odd hour,” Das said.