Dacoits Loot Passengers of Cachar Express

Silchar, Jul 14 : A number of passengers of the Lumding-Silchar Cachar Express were robbed at a place between Lower Haflong and Bagetar stations Dima Hasao district early on Wednesday. At least 25 people, including five women, were injured when the miscreants beat them up. The condition of two among them is serious.

Sources said around 2.45 am on Wednesday, a group of dacoits with their faces covered barged into Coach No. S-6 with sharp weapons and some others went to the general compartment. They looted around 100 passengers in both the compartments.

"Soon after the train left Lower Haflong station, the miscreants knocked at the door of one of the compartments and a passenger allowed them in. At first, they switched off the lights and started beating up the passengers to terrorize them. Then they took away cash, gold ornaments, mobile phones and clothes from them. They got down before the train reached the next station", said one of the passengers.

While the injured passengers were treated at Badarpur Railway Hospital after the train reached there in the morning, two other critical ones were sent to Silchar Medical College Hospital.

The duo has been identiified as K Liapen (26), a BSF official posted in Manipur, and Sampat Roy (23), a resident of Amraghat in Cachar district. Sources said Liapen was later flown to a BSF hospital in Imphal.

"The dacoits snatched away my earrings and chains," said Prabha Devnath, a passenger and resident of Badarpur. The passengers filed an FIR with the GRP at Badarpur. Money and materials to the tune of Rs 5 lakh was looted," a source said.

A GRP officer said a raid has been conducted in the adjoining area with the help of Dima Hasao Police but no one has been arrested yet. The Haflong-Silchar section of the NF Railway frequently witnesses such incidents of decoities.