Delhi Police registers case over Duronto train robbery

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) The Delhi Police on Thursday registered a case of robbery against a group of four to five unidentified armed men who entered two coaches of Jammu-Delhi Duronto Express and fled with cash, mobile phones and gold of two passengers within minutes in the national capital, a police officer said.

The incident occurred at 7.30 a.m when the train had stopped at the outer signal of Samaypur Badli Railway Station in west Delhi.

"Those robbed on knife point in the train were identified as Ashok Kumar and Basant Bhandari, both residents of Jammu. We have registered a case of robbery against a group of unknown four to five persons in this connection. RPF has been deputed to patrol the running trains," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railway) Dinesh Kumar Gupta told IANS.

Northern Railway (NR) spokesperson Deepak Kumar said the signal system was tampered with as the train came to a sudden halt near Badli in outer Delhi, adding that the armed men managed to enter the B3 coach and looted two passengers.

He said General Railway Police (GRP) was recording statements of the passengers who were robbed. The GRP would also record the statement of TTE and other staff who were present in the train when the incident took place.

However, it seems that neither the train staff nor security personnel were available at the time of incident, he added

The NR spokesperson said the train was not escorted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel. "The GRP is working with the passengers to get the sketch of suspects," Deepak Kumar said.

The robbery came to light after Ashwani Kumar, who was travelling from Jammu to Delhi, lodged a complaint through the railways' complaints portal.

"The RPF has some initial leads in the case... We will be able to catch the culprits soon," Deepak Kumar said.