Train chors back with food traps
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Saturday, August 29, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20Latest§id=2&contentid=2009082920090829023611765a7f0f82b)
Sabarmati Express passenger Mohamad Hanif died after having biscuits spiked with sedative offered by a thug on August 25. Five others travelling with him landed in hospitals. An FIR was registered in the incident at Nadiad. Gangs of unscrupulous men preying on unsuspecting passengers is not new, but the recent incident shocks. It’s gone to the extreme. And several incidents of the kind have been recorded in the last few days.
These goons are not just after valuables, they have total disregard for passengers’ lives. Hanif (28) was travelling from Ahmedabad to Varanasi in a group of six. An hour after the train left the city at 8.30 pm, a man sitting close by in the unreserved coach struck up a friendly conversation with the six saying he was from near their village in UP. He then offered them biscuits and kept the talk going.
All six go unconscious
Soon, Hanif and his friends began to feel drowsy. Minutes later, they were out, knocked off by the drug-laced biscuits the man had given them. Co-passengers noticed three of them going cold and informed the ticket checker. They were off-loaded at Ratlam station and taken to the Civil Hospital. A while later, three others including Hanif were taken off at Ujjain. Hanif succumbed at the station itself. His body was sent for post-mortem. The other two were rushed to Ujjain police station. All six lost their luggage. Later, an FIR was filed by the Nadiad railway police as the crime allegedly took place near the town.
AC coach not safe too
The day before, on August 24, the thugs struck in an AC coach. Patanjali Sharma (30), an Indian Air Force personnel station in Bhuj was occupying seat no 40 in an AC 3-tier coach of Bhuj-Barelli Express. The man on seat 39 beside him identified himself as an IAF employee too, and got talking. Quickly, he got friendly with an entire group in the compartment and offered them coffee. The coffee was spiked. “When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a hospital in Ajmer. I don’t know what happened in between,” said Sharma from the hospital bed.
His co-passengers, Ajay Kumar, Shrimati Meena and Ravindra Singh, were also admitted to Ajmer Civil Hospital, he said. Sharma lost the bag he was travelling with. An FIR in the incident was lodged in Ahmedabad.
Passengers warned through loudspeakers
The Railways knows of the incidents and their increasing frequency. Asked what it was doing about passengers’ safety, RPF inspector K D Patel told AM, “We announce and warn passengers through loudspeakers, especially in the general coach, to be wary of strangers and not accept anything they offer. But people get friendly the moment somebody say he’s from their hometown, a distant relative etc., and fall in the trap.”
Officials said items like coffee, tea, cream biscuits and flavoured milk offered by strangers is often suspect. Cream biscuits in particular are thieves’ preferred bait. The sedative is mixed with the cream and the biscuits stuck together conveniently. The spiked ones are offered to target victims, while the culprit bites on others for pretence.
The latest in the series of robberies occurred on-board the Bandra-Varanasi Awadh Express on August 28. Two passengers from the general bogie fell unconscious and had to admitted to a hospital in Dahod and one at Ratlam after having drugged biscuits.
Inspector Patel the spate of robberies in recent days indicates that a group of thugs is very active on the Ahmedabad-Ratlam belt. Several similar incidents, however, have also occurred on the Konkan route, officials said.
Posted On Saturday, August 29, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20Latest§id=2&contentid=2009082920090829023611765a7f0f82b)
Sabarmati Express passenger Mohamad Hanif died after having biscuits spiked with sedative offered by a thug on August 25. Five others travelling with him landed in hospitals. An FIR was registered in the incident at Nadiad. Gangs of unscrupulous men preying on unsuspecting passengers is not new, but the recent incident shocks. It’s gone to the extreme. And several incidents of the kind have been recorded in the last few days.
These goons are not just after valuables, they have total disregard for passengers’ lives. Hanif (28) was travelling from Ahmedabad to Varanasi in a group of six. An hour after the train left the city at 8.30 pm, a man sitting close by in the unreserved coach struck up a friendly conversation with the six saying he was from near their village in UP. He then offered them biscuits and kept the talk going.
All six go unconscious
Soon, Hanif and his friends began to feel drowsy. Minutes later, they were out, knocked off by the drug-laced biscuits the man had given them. Co-passengers noticed three of them going cold and informed the ticket checker. They were off-loaded at Ratlam station and taken to the Civil Hospital. A while later, three others including Hanif were taken off at Ujjain. Hanif succumbed at the station itself. His body was sent for post-mortem. The other two were rushed to Ujjain police station. All six lost their luggage. Later, an FIR was filed by the Nadiad railway police as the crime allegedly took place near the town.
AC coach not safe too
The day before, on August 24, the thugs struck in an AC coach. Patanjali Sharma (30), an Indian Air Force personnel station in Bhuj was occupying seat no 40 in an AC 3-tier coach of Bhuj-Barelli Express. The man on seat 39 beside him identified himself as an IAF employee too, and got talking. Quickly, he got friendly with an entire group in the compartment and offered them coffee. The coffee was spiked. “When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a hospital in Ajmer. I don’t know what happened in between,” said Sharma from the hospital bed.
His co-passengers, Ajay Kumar, Shrimati Meena and Ravindra Singh, were also admitted to Ajmer Civil Hospital, he said. Sharma lost the bag he was travelling with. An FIR in the incident was lodged in Ahmedabad.
Passengers warned through loudspeakers
The Railways knows of the incidents and their increasing frequency. Asked what it was doing about passengers’ safety, RPF inspector K D Patel told AM, “We announce and warn passengers through loudspeakers, especially in the general coach, to be wary of strangers and not accept anything they offer. But people get friendly the moment somebody say he’s from their hometown, a distant relative etc., and fall in the trap.”
Officials said items like coffee, tea, cream biscuits and flavoured milk offered by strangers is often suspect. Cream biscuits in particular are thieves’ preferred bait. The sedative is mixed with the cream and the biscuits stuck together conveniently. The spiked ones are offered to target victims, while the culprit bites on others for pretence.
The latest in the series of robberies occurred on-board the Bandra-Varanasi Awadh Express on August 28. Two passengers from the general bogie fell unconscious and had to admitted to a hospital in Dahod and one at Ratlam after having drugged biscuits.
Inspector Patel the spate of robberies in recent days indicates that a group of thugs is very active on the Ahmedabad-Ratlam belt. Several similar incidents, however, have also occurred on the Konkan route, officials said.
