ALIGARH: Two men were arrested for lighting a bonfire in a running train after a gateman alerted authorities to smoke emanating from a compartment of the New Delhi-bound Sampark Kranti Superfast Express, averting a major disaster.
According to an official of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Aligarh, the incident occurred on January 3 night when the gateman posted at a railway crossing near Barhan railway station observed a flash of light and smoke from a coach of the train which was coming from Assam.
He immediately informed his superiors at the Barhan railway station after which an RPF team arranged for the train to be stopped at the next station Chamraula.
Simultaneously, as they were combing through the running train, they found that some men had lit a bonfire inside a general coach with dung cakes to get relief from the extreme cold conditions.
The fire was immediately doused before any major damage could occur and the train then proceeded to Aligarh Junction where 16 persons were detained.
The RPF Commandant posted at the Aligarh railway station, Rajiv Verma, told reporters on Saturday that two youths - identified as Chandan (23) and Devendra (25) - who belong to Faridabad admitted that they lit the bonfire for some comfort.
They were booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Indian Railway Act and sent to jail. The other 14 co-passengers, who had joined them later, were released with a warning.