Train passengers fell prey to thieves for the second successive day on Friday. Even as the police are struggling for clues about the gang that snatched away chains from women passengers of the Chennai Express near Nadikudi in Guntur the previous day, robbers targeted Secunderabad-bound Tirupati special train in the early hours of Friday near Gooty in Anantapur.
One of the gang members barged inside the train when it stopped before the Gooty railway station reportedly at a red signal. “It was pitch dark all around but we could make out it was a forest area. Suddenly a robber entered our compartment,” said Srinivas of Qabooterkhana of Old City. He, along with other family members, was on a return journey from Tirupati.
Before Srinivas could react, the offender snatched the gold chain of his elder brother’s wife, Bhavani. As the robber yanked the chain with some force, she suffered a long cut on the neck. “I recall more members of the gang entering other coaches and taking away whatever they could lay their hands on,” Mr. Srinivas told the police.
The train started after a few minutes. Srinivas lodged a complaint with the Secunderabad railway police. He maintained that there were no police constables on the train. The travel ticket examiner or other railway staff members were also not available to guide people on the next course of action, he charged.
Another snatchIn another instance, a man snatched a gold chain from the neck of a woman passenger of Chennai Express when it stopped at Nidubrolu railway station of Guntur district on Thursday night. “The victim and her husband were awake and sitting on the berth when the snatcher standing on the platform pulled the chain by inserting his hand into the window,” Vijayawada railway SP Shyam Prasad said.
There were two constables in the train but no personnel from Government Railway Police or Railway Protection Force were present at the platform, he said.
