Udupi: Cases of theft of gold, cash and money from the Konkan Railway trains are being often reported during the past years.
But the horrifying experience of a Tuluva family from the district while travelling from Mumbai to here on Wednesday, Dec 23 night has raised very serious issues on passenger safety.
Ajit Kumar Shetty of Moodu Kotrapady had travelled in the Matsyagandha express compartment no. S-9 earlier this week. As they were getting in, a ticketless traveller was found sitting in one of the seats reserved for them. When asked to vacate, he responded rudely.
He told Shetty that he would ‘see’ him in Ratnagiri station. Even the ticket checker in the compartment is said to have cautioned him against the person.
When the train halted at Ratnagiri, a group of about 30 persons barged into S-9 compartment and went on a rampage. They were carrying steel rods, swords, chilli powder and knives. They also assaulted Shetty and his 4-year-old son and robbed them of a gold chain weighing six sovereign.
Soon thereafter, they escaped from there. Other passengers woke up from their sleep in the meantime and stopped the train by pulling the emergency chain. An hour after the train was stopped, a policeman arrived and took a complaint. The train was delayed by about four hours.
The incident has shocked regular travellers. It is not known if the railway police were present in Ratnagiri station or not. The Konkan line is considered the arterial link between Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Such incidents would not bring a good name to the Konkan Railway, said the passengers.
The Konkan railways must install CCTV surveillance cameras in each compartment and these rowdies can easily be detected and arrested soon from the cctv footage information.
I wonder when we will get our gold back from the robbers…hope police is doing somthing.