Railway contractor helps robbers loot train
BENGALURU: In a shocker, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has learnt that a railway contractor has been facilitating looting of passengers on board trains departing from Bengaluru for a long period. He does it by ensuring CCTV cameras do not capture visuals of the robbers when they visit railway stations.
RPF sources told The New Indian Express, “The contractor, who was managing CCTVs in Yeshwantpur station and was responsible for cables connecting the network in Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna facilitated robberies by switching off cables or changing the camera angles at platforms just before specific trains departed. He did this so that the identity of the perpetrators never got recorded.”
This followed sustained investigations over a month in light of four incidents of drugging of passengers inside long-distance trains leaving from Yeshwantpur in April. The Government Railway Police (GRP) booked a case against a five-member gang, hailing from Gonda village in Uttar Pradesh along with the contractor (name withheld till the investigation is completed).
A top source said the modus operandi of these habitual offenders of befriending passengers in reserved coaches by posing as genuine passengers and later offering them snacks along with spiked drinks had been going on for a decade. Last month, RPF cops themselves slyly video graphed passengers in both stations and showed the footage to many past victims.
“One of the passengers identified two individuals in our footage. That gave us a breakthrough. We kept a vigil on them and nabbed them when they came to Yeshwantpur station,” one of the cops said. The duo was reluctant to part with information. “After checking their phones and WhatsApp archives, we understood they were regularly interacting with a person, whose photo on his DP looked familiar. We circulated it in our circles and someone identified him as a railway contractor,” a source said.
Further inquires revealed the contractor even resided with the gang at Anajaneya Nagar in Bengaluru. He helped them plan every attack by giving details about passenger trains. “The gang leader gave a monthly salary of Rs 20,000 to each member and must have paid the contractor much more,” another cop added.
Both GRP and RPF teams visited Uttar Pradesh a week ago to nab the gang but could not find them.Cops are working on nabbing all those involved, including the contractor.