Stolen materials seized from the robbers on display at Bhubaneswar railway police station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar: April 12: Government Railway Police last night arrested six persons from the Bhubaneswar railway station on charges of robbing and stealing from train passengers. They were forwarded to the court today.

The accused have been identified as Manas Mallick (23) from Tihidi in Bhadrak district, Ranjit Sahu (19) from Gangasagar in Bengal, Chhotan Sharma (19) from Berhampur, and Laxmidhar Jena (48) from Baselisahi in Puri. Rajan Rout (27) from Charmpa in Bhadrak and Sunil Panda (19) from Berhampur were arrested in another case of theft. Police recovered cash worth Rs 40,000, three mobile phones, and nine mobile phone SIM cards from them.

Police said that four of those arrested had robbed some daily wage labourers of Rs 19,000 while they were travelling in Jaswantpur-Howrah Express at dagger point. The incident took place when the train was approaching Bhubaneswar railway station. The accused forced 11 labourers into the toilet and were trying to escape with their money when the police were informed. The robbers were caught soon after.

“As the police entered the bogey, the robbers tried to flee but were captured by the police. We recovered the entire loot and returned it to the victims,” said S.R. Kar, the inspector-in-charge of the railway police station.