Malda, May 3: A murder plan under the guise of a train robbery went awry when a gang hired by a woman, suspected to be a dealer in illegal gold, missed its target and killed a teacher on board the Farakka-Delhi Express on Friday night.

Kalpana Shinde, who runs a gold business in the Churipatti area of town, was arrested late on Saturday night in connection with the incident. She has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

Umesh Varma, who was the target and was injured during the "robbery", told the Government Railway Police investigators that he was closely associated with Kalpana, 50, and she owed him around Rs 5 lakh for stolen gold ornaments that had been delivered to her.

The woman has confessed that she and her son had hired men to murder Umesh.

Police said Kalpana's son was absconding.

On Friday, soon after the Farakka-Delhi Express left Malda Town station around 7.15pm, eight to 10 armed men entered coach B2 (ACII) and started looking for Umesh. Indra Bhan, 45, a teacher of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Balurghat, was shot as he tried to resist them. He died on Friday after he was admitted to NTPC Hospital in Farakka.

Umesh, 40, was injured on the head and arms when he was attacked with sharp weapons. He is under treatment at the Malda Medical College and Hospital.

Sources said investigations had revealed that Kalpana and Umesh had illegal dealings in gold and she and her son owed him money. Kalpana and her son had hatched a plot to murder Umesh.

According to GRP sources, Kalpana is from Maharashtra and she married Hanuman Shinde around 30 years ago. He had a business in gold and jewellery in Churipatti area here. After he died around 15 years back, Kalpana and her son Ranjit have been looking after the business.

Sources said Kalpana had been dealing in smuggled gold and reportedly smelted stolen gold jewellery and sold the metal.

Krishna Gopal Dutta, the inspector in charge of Malda GRP, said Kalpana was produced in the chief judicial magistrate's court today. "She has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. She and her absconding son, Ranjit, have been charged with murder."

He added that recently Kalpana had received stolen gold jewellery from Umesh, a resident of Baksa in Bihar.

"Umesh has said that he had been staying with Kalpana in her Churipatti house since April 17. He had handed over stolen gold ornaments and was to be paid Rs 5 lakh. Umesh left for Delhi by train on Friday and Kalpana and her son hired people to murder him on the train so that it looked like a murder by armed robbers. Kalpana has confessed to plotting to eliminate Umesh," said Dutta.

He said Indra Bhan tried to resist the attack on the train when one of the gang members fired. The bullet missed Umesh and hit Bhan. "The gang members then pulled the emergency chain of the train and jumped off between Old Malda and Jamirghata stations. Bhan, who was shot on the left side of the chest, died after his admission to the NTPC Hospital in Farakka," Dutta said.

No gang member has been arrested yet.

He said Umesh would be arrested. "We have our men guarding him at the hospital and he will be arrested as soon as he is released. We are trying to find out from where Kalpana and her son hired the gang that carried out the attack."