Bhubaneswar, June 29: Hundreds of residents today barged into Railway Protection Force police station, demanding release of around seven passengers, including a baby girl, whom the cops had detained for staging an agitation at the railway station.

The incident was linked to the inordinate delay in arrival of the Puri-Durg Express at Bhubaneswar railway station.

Sources in the East Coast Railway said the train was supposed to leave Puri last evening, but it was delayed due to the ongoing modernisation work at Puri station in view of the upcoming Nabakalebar.

Later, the authorities rescheduled the train to 1am, which, however, was further delayed, and the train finally reached Bhubaneswar around 10am.

Aggrieved by the delay, hundreds of passengers, who were supposed to take the train from Bhubaneswar, had to wait at the city railway station since last evening. Later, the passengers resorted to demonstration on the railway tracks.

"We had been waiting for the train since last evening. But, it reached here only today morning. The train has been delayed for more than 20 hours while covering a distance of only about 60km. To protest such mismanagement, we sat on the rail tracks. On the other hand, the RPF personnel, instead of pacifying us, detained some of us, including a kid, at the police station. This is an instance of police highhandedness," said Sharmistha Rout, one of the passengers.

In order to tackle the situation, the RPF personnel rushed to the spot and brought the passengers to the police station and detained seven of them for more than five hours.

The RPF personnel also allegedly assaulted a reporter and a cameraman of a vernacular media channel and snatched away their video camera.

"They dragged us to the RPF police station and assaulted us. Besides, they have also damaged the video tape, in which we have recorded how the RPF personnel were mercilessly dragging the women protesters from the railway tracks instead of deploying their female cops to handle the situation," said reporter Satyajit Sena.

The RPF personnel, however, locked both the entrances to the police station and did not allow local residents and other passengers, who were trying to free the detained passengers.

Later in the evening, hundreds of passengers and local residents forced their entry into the police station and ransacked it.

"The inspector in-charge of the station has detained the passengers illegally, and we demanded their release. The RPF did not initiate any action against the protesters, who had blocked the railway tracks during the Odisha bandh a few days ago. But instead they are harassing passengers, who were already aggrieved by the late arrival of trains," said Mangal Jena, a protester.

Inspector in-charge of Railway Protection Force police station S.K. Swain refused to meet the newspersons and comment on the issue. Later in the evening, Swain was suspended.

However, sources said the passengers were released in the evening on a personal recognisance bail bond.

Divisional manager of the East Coast Railway (Khurda Road) S.K. Singh said an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. "Stringent action would be initiated if anyone found guilty in the incident," said Singh.