‘Rebels’ hold Dhanbad train captive for hours

Jamshedpur: Passengers aboard the Dhanbad- Jhargram MEMU (68020) had a brush with terror on Thursday night when suspected Maoists hijacked the train for nearly two hours at Kokpara railway station under Kharagpur railway division of South Eastern Railway zone, 70km from here.
At least 10 armed and masked rebels opened fire on the train to force the driver, assistant driver and guard to stop the train.Once the train stopped, the rebels beat them up severely and took them captive.
Earlier, the rebels barged into the office of the station master and asked him to halt the 18478 Kalinga Utkal Express scheduled to pass through Kokpara around the same time. When the station master refused to concede their demand the rebels beat him up. In the course of the struggle, the Jhargram bound passenger train arrived at the station around 10.20pm and the rebels targeted the train.
"The rebels opened fire in the air and surrounded the train and pulled down the two drivers and the guard from the locomotive and dragged them to the station master's office. After a few minutes, they released the station master and guard and took the two drivers to an isolated corner and released them after snatching four walkie-talkies from them," Ghatshila SDPO Sanjeev Besra said. He also confirmed that rebels did not threaten the passengers though the latter had started panicking.
When the rebels moved away from the station along with the two drivers, the station master called up local police for help. By the time police reached the site around 11.45pm the rebels had fled.
Soon after reaching the station, security officials, including the district police and RPF personnel, interacted with the passengers and calmed them. The train left for its destination at 12.45am. The incident affected the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express, which was stopped at Ghatshila station, Utkal Express at Dhalbhumgarh and Howrah-Mumbai mail at Sardiha station, for security reasons.
The train service on Howrah-Khargapur-Tatanagar route normalized in the early hours on Friday. "We have recovered an empty cartridge from the site and further investigation into the matter is under way," said Besra. There was no loss to life and property, the officer said.
The Kharagpur railway division has said that it has heightened security on the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section in the wake of last night's incident. "Our RPF along with the state police (of Jharkhand) will investigate into the matter," said KGP DRM, Rajkumar Mangla. He also said that the railway personnel who were assaulted by the Maoists are doing well now and are back to work.