EASY TARGETS: Passengers arrive at Bhubaneswar railway station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 1: Beware travellers — befriending strangers and accepting food from them could prove costly.

Two passengers learnt this the hard way and were rescued in an unconscious state from the roadside yesterday.

Police said Rinku Behera, 30, of Athgarh in Cuttack and Suryakant Maiti, 28, of Erasama in Jagatsinghpur district were found lying unconscious at two different places on the roadside yesterday. The cops said they had been drugged and looted while travelling in trains and buses.

While Rinku was rescued from near Giridurga temple in Unit-III, Suryakant was found at Baramunda bus stand.

Rinku, who was working in Bangalore, was returning home when he fell victim to a gang of looters active in and around Bhubaneswar railway station. The goons snatched Rs 3,000 and his cell phone and dumped him at a place around one kilometre from the station.

“Someone offered me a cold drink at the railway station. After that I don’t know what happened to me. I found myself at Capital Hospital today,” said Rinku from his hospital bed.

Suryakant’s case was similar. He was working in Surat and was returning home when a gang waylaid him. He was given tea laced with drugs at the railway station. When he fell unconscious, the goons stole his cash and cell phone. Khandagiri police rescued him from near Baramunda bus stand.

The hospital police outpost officials said that a couple of days ago, two youths had also been rescued by the city police and admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state.

They had been drugged by goons active at the railway station and bus stand.

Sources said such incidents were rampant at the railway station and bus stand but neither the city cops nor the railway police were taking any steps to curb them.

In the past year, more than 100 people have fallen victims to these drug-and-loot gangs at the railway station and bus stand. Officials said two people had even died of drug overdose.

The goons also strike at will as there seems to be a lack of coordination between the state police and the railway police. In the past, the railway police had arrested some of these goons. The Saheed Nagar police had also arrested two auto-rickshaw drivers last month for drugging and looting train passengers.

Railway police officials said they conducted raids in and around the station to curb such activities. The city police officials also claimed that said they were taking steps to arrest the culprits.