Behrampore, May 2: A passenger was shot dead on a local train in Murshidabad last evening when he tried to resist a band of robbers.
Santosh Das, 50, a resident of Lalgola who supplied bakery items to shops and tea stalls, was killed on the spot.
Around 6pm, three men boarded a Lalgola-Ranaghat train at Lalgola station and took their seats like other passengers. As soon as the train started, two of them whipped out revolvers and the other a dagger.
“They first snatched a mobile phone from a passenger. Another passenger handed over a Rs 100 note. Then they turned to Santosh Das, who was sitting next to the man who gave Rs 100 to the robbers,” a railway police officer said.
Santosh refused to hand over the Rs 800 he had in his pocket. “He pushed one of the robbers, who lost balance and fell. From the other passengers, we learnt that the goon became very angry after being pushed to the floor. He picked himself up, thrust the nozzle of the revolver on Santosh’s chest and pulled the trigger,” the officer said.
By this time, Bhagabangola station was near and the trio blocked both gates of the compartment and threatened to kill any passenger who dared to get down there.
“They placed Santosh’s body near the gate towards the platform. When the train arrived at the station, they waited. As the train started rolling again, they dropped Santosh’s body on the platform. By the time the few others on the deserted platform could react, the train had gone,” a police officer said.
A mob marched to the stationmaster’s office and ransacked it after the body had been spotted. The people asked stationmaster Manoj Tewari why he did not try to stop the train after the body had been spotted.
Tewari said: “I tried to pacify the passengers telling them I did not see the body being dropped from the train. I heard about the body five minutes after the train had left.”
The robbers got off the train as it slowed down before reaching the Subarnamrigi halt, the station after Bhagabangola.
No one has been arrested over 24 hours after the incident.
