Jamshedpur, April 5: Railway police today claimed to have identified a local gang responsible for looting the Tata-Kharagpur passenger near Ghatshila station late last evening.

Rail superintendent of police Mrityunjay Kumar said over half a dozen criminals of Ghatshila planned the dacoity in the train. “The Government Railway Police (GRP) along with the district police will raid suspected hideouts in and around Ghatshila tonight,” he said.

However, Kumar refused to divulge details of dacoits who successfully looted property worth Rs 3 lakh from passengers. A GRP jawan said the security personnel were not able to conduct raids due to the fear of a Naxalite attack last night.

“The GRP and district police personnel restrained themselves from conducting raids in the suspected hideouts of the criminals as Ghatshila has a strong Naxalite base,” he said adding that the dacoits might have already fled from Ghatshila as they got sufficient time to flee.

Senior railway officials of Kharagpur division under South Eastern Railway held a meeting with the business community of Chakulia and Dhalbhumgarh today after anguished local traders and businessmen blocked the movement of trains yesterday and beat up GRP jawans for failing to foil dacoities in moving trains on the Tata-Ghatshila-Kharagpur line.

Kumar said security has been beefed up at Ghatshila and other stations under the Chakradharpur division and the RPF would be roped in to escort local trains.