A 20-year-old woman travelling by an express train was sexually assaulted and over a dozen passengers were robbed by a gang of eight that boarded at Igatpuri station in Nashik on Friday evening.
Five of the gang have been arrested. The robbers forced at least 15 passengers to part with cellphones and cash after threatening them. A 21-year-old man who refused to give his phone was pushed out of the train, but as it was moving slowly, only suffered minor injuries to the head.
The horror took place on board the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express around 7pm between Igatpuri and Kasara stations as the train was headed to Mumbai. A case of gangrape has been registered after the newly-married woman from UP, who was travelling with her husband, registered a complaint, said railway police
4 of 5 train robbers held are from Igatpuri & Mumbai
As the train entered a long tunnel after Igatpuri, the robbers, taking advantage of the cover of darkness, threatened passengers in the general coach with belts and metal knuckles, forcing them to part with their belongings, said passengers. Some of them whipped out knives soon after the train had left Igatpuri station, some of the passengers told TOI.
When they targeted the young woman, her husband and another co-passenger seated close to them tried to stop the assailants but were assaulted.
Four of the robbers were arrested soon after the crime while a fifth was apprehended on Saturday, the railway police said. They are from Igatpuri and Mumbai. The railway police claimed that the robbers must have targeted the general coach as Railway Protection Force personnel hardly visit these compartments.
One of protesting passengers, 21-year-old Ankush Kumar, was pushed out of the train, passengers said. However, the train was moving at slow speed at the time. A little before this, one of the passengers in the coach pulled the chain.
“They snatched my mobile phone and pushed me out,” said Kumar. “But the train was still moving slowly and so I managed to get in into another compartment with help from a passenger who stretched out his hand and pulled me in again.”
By then, teams of the railway police and RPF had been lying wait on the platform of the next station, Kasara, to nab the culprits. However, some of them had managed to escape from the station while RPF officials nabbed one of them at the station.
After the train left Kasara, passengers realised that one of the robbers had been holed up in the toilet. They latched him up inside and as the train reached Kalyan, he was handed over to the railway police officials at the station.
On learning about the sexual assault, railway police officials at Kalyan got in touch with their counterparts at Igatpuri after which two others were nabbed, including those who had sexually abused the woman.
The arrested accused have been identified as Arshad Shaikh (19) who lives in Malad, Prakash Pardhi alias Pakya (20), Arjun Pardeshi (20) and Kishore Sonawane alias Kalu (25) – all from Igatpuri. Details of the fifth arrested person were not immediately known.
The five arrested persons and their absconding accomplices have been charged with rape, robbery besides other sections of the Railway Act. Some of the arrested men have a criminal background, according to railway police officials.
The estimated value of the stolen property is pegged around Rs 96,000, said Quaiser Khalid, commissioner of Government Railway Police (Mumbai). He said phones formed a major chunk of the booty. Goods worth Rs 34,000 have been recovered so far.
Surjitt Sahani
