Four passengers of the Secunderabad-Tirupati Padmavati Express were robbed of gold ornaments worth over Rs 2.10 lakh near here in the early hours of Tuesday.
Railway police said soon after the train reached Pelluru, a gang of four to five robbers pulled the chain and brought it to a halt.
They snatched gold chains and other ornaments weighing about 70 gm from four passengers travelling in four different coaches when they were fast asleep,
Railway Police CI Sk. Kajawali said after visiting the scene of the offence. They ran away with the booty under the cover of darkness.
Sunil Kumar from Uppal in Hyderabad who was travelling in S-5 coach along with his wife and sister-in-law complained that his wife was relieved of her gold chain weighing 25 gm by the robbers.
Sirisha from Bellampalli in Adilabad district travelling in S-9 coach was robbed of her gold chain weighing 30 gm, her husband Sudhakar complained.
Vijayalakshmi from Chanchalguda in Hyderabad who was travelling in S-10 coach complained that she lost her gold chain weighing 12 gm. Another woman, Saritha, from Boyapalli in Adilabad district, who was travelling in S-2 coach, said in her complaint that she lost a gold dollar weighing three gm as the miscreants tried to snatch her gold chain.
Teams formed to catch thieves
Tirupati Staff Reporter adds:
The railway police formed special teams to catch the culprits involved in the train robbery on the Padmavati Express. Taking a serious view of the incident this year, the department decided to intensify patrolling on trains by involving a section of Armed Reserve (AR) Police.
“We are not sure of the number of persons who gained entry into the train, but we have requested the Prakasam police to keep track of regular offenders in the region,” said P. Muniswamy, Superintendent of Police of Guntakal railway police district.
Special pickets
Given the number of special trains introduced between April and June to cope with the summer rush, patrolling would be intensified on all the trains, besides forming special pickets in smaller railway stations having no police station.
