New Delhi: Armed Maoist rebels on Sunday seized a passenger train on the West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Sunday morning, but abandoned it after some time, reports reaching here said.
According to Railway sources, the Naxals boarded 246 Tatanagar-Kharagpur passenger train at 1030 hrs (IST) and attacked the guards. The militants seized the rifles and wireless equipment of the guards and then fled.
The Maoists after hijacking the train hid in nearby areas holding out threats to blow it up. They, however, gave up as additional police reached the scene.
Agency reports quoted East Singhbhum Deputy Superintendent of Police S P Burnwal as saying that said tracks were being searched as Maoists might have planted bombs there.
He said the Maoists, who had boarded the train as passengers, snatched two rifles from RPF jawans and a walkie talkie set from the driver. They informed the Chakukulia Station Master about the incident and gave description of the attackers.
Some panic-stricken passengers jumped off the train and ran towards Chakulia station. Before fleeing, they also took away Rs 1 lakh, which was transported as salary of the Railway staff, he said.
Unconfirmed reports said an RPF jawan was beaten up by the attackers and was hospitalised. There were no reports of any other casualty so far.
The incident occurred in a dense forest area between Gidni and Chakulia stations, 76 km off Howrah.
Movement of trains on the section had been disrupted, a South-Eastern Railway spokesman said. A similar incident of train hijack by the Maoists was reported last year on Adra-Chkaradharpur section of the South Eastern railway.
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