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| A scanner at the railway station in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee |
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: Bhubaneswar railway station has become a den of petty criminals such as pickpockets, snatchers and luggage lifters, making it unsafe for passengers.
Last night, the Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested two persons who were involved in pickpocketing, snatching and stealing the luggage of train passengers from Bhubaneswar and Jajpur.
The accused, Anand Chandra Samal and Ramakrishna Mahato from Jajpur district and Badrak, respectively, were arrested following a complaint by a passenger, Bijaya Kumar Sethi. Samal was the first to be arrested and, following a tip-off from him, Mahato was nabbed later.
Inspector in-charge of GRP, Bhubaneswar, Smruti Ranajan Kar said the complainant’s purse was stolen while he was going to Rourkela in the Bhubaneswar-Rourkela Passenger on October 16. “We informed the railway police and conducted raids at the hideouts of the accused. One was arrested from Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar and the other from Jajpur,” said Kar.
The police have also seized cash worth Rs 15,000, seven mobile phones, one motorcycle, some Nepali currency and gold ornaments worth Rs 1lakh from the accused. The police also got clues about other groups of thieves operating at Bhubaneswar railway station.
On September 16, while travelling from Bhubaneswar to Bhadrak, Dibakar Sahu had a similar experience while boarding the Bhadrak-Berhampur fast passenger. The next day, he lodged a complaint with the GRP, Bhubaneswar. But by then Rs 40,000 had been withdrawn using his ATM card. The railway police on October 15 released the thief’s photo after getting the footage from the closed-circuit television camera installed at the ATM counter.
Before this incident the GRP had arrested Pradip Mohapatra, an engineer, for stealing the belongings of train passengers from AC compartments. He is the son of a retired magistrate and brother of a doctor.
The police said there has been a spurt in the number of criminal cases on trains because of the festive season. Daily about 15 cases are registered, during Dusherra the figure had touched 20.
“We are trying to intensify patrolling on railway stations to stop such petty crimes,” said GRP superintendent of police (SP) Bhagyadhar Behera.
Talking about the increase in such incidents, a railway official said the Bhubaneswar railway station had several entry and exit points apart from four authorised gates.
The criminals, who reside at nearby slums, use these routes to escape after committing a crime. Passengers mostly complain about the lack of police patrolling on platforms.
However, Railway Protection Force (RPF) inspector in-charge Varun Behera said their jawans keep tight vigil on the platforms. “Our personnel are mostly positioned near the slums at the end of the platforms. The criminals operate from these areas,” he said.
However, an RPF official admitted that there was a shortage of staff. “With around 62 cops doing duty on a shift basis, it is not an easy task to guard the platform,” said the officer. Echoing similar sentiments, an RPF officer said around 30 jawans are always on duty on a shift basis at the station.
“Because of staff shortage, we cannot provide ample men to patrol the platforms. The jawans have to deal with crime detection, cases of unnatural deaths, public grievances and also escort the VIPs. So, we do not get enough personnel to patrol the platform,” said Bhagyadhar Behera.
At the same time, equipment installed at the station to check passengers carrying weapons and explosives are lying defunct. A luggage scanner at the main entrance is out of order because of a technical snag. Four door-frame metal detectors are also not working properly.
But, the systems had proved useful when in operation. Over a year ago, a criminal was arrested at Bhubaneswar railway station for carrying a pistol and live bullets.
“It’s scary to learn that people can get past the gates to board trains with weapons and no one is there to spot it,” said Shekh Ziauddin, a passenger.