BENGALURU: A happy shopping outing in Bengaluru turned into misery for a family after a robber brandished a small knife and snatched a gold mangalsutra worth Rs 3 lakh from the mother when they were returning to their hometown Mysuru. The incident happened on board the Chamundi Express on Saturday night.
N Manjula (52) sustained minor injuries on her neck after the robber snapped the chain with the knife and jumped out of the train near Jnanabharati railway station. The mangalsutra and pendants weigh nearly 50gm.
Reliving the nightmare, Manjula’s daughter Nishkala Gowda, a homemaker, told TNIE, “I boarded the Chamundi Express at 6.15pm from Majestic station (KSR Bengaluru) with my mother and two sisters. We had reserved tickets and were seated near the door of coach D2. We had gone to Bengaluru from our residence at Nazarbad in Mysuru, to shop for a cousin who is getting married.”
The sisters were engaged in conversation when the man struck. “We noticed a man near the door who was walking repeatedly in a suspicious manner, but were engrossed in our talk. My mother later told us that he was staring at her. The train left and was crossing Jnanabharati station, where there is no stop, quite slowly. I remember it was quite dark outside,” Nishkala said.
The man made a dash for Manjula and drew a sharp blade-sized knife from his pocket. “He showed it to us and we started shouting in fear. In seconds, he cut her chain with it and jumped out of the open door. I remember him falling in the bushes. We were shocked and started crying,” she said. There were only two men in the compartment. A passenger suggested they pull the emergency train and they did so.
“The train came to a halt 500 metres ahead. It was near Kengeri station. Government Railway Police and railway officials came and took a statement from the family. They told us such an incident was very rare on the Chamundi Express, and had happened over a year ago. A policeman advised us to return to Bengaluru and file a complaint,” Nishkala said.
The family alighted at Ramanagara and took a return train to KSR, and filed a complaint at the GRP station by 10.15 pm. The complaint was converted into an FIR on Sunday afternoon. There has been no breakthrough so far.