Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 4, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Soldier-takes-on-dacoits-on-trainGang-Of-30/articleshow/6488820.cms#ixzz1CcvBgXVZ
A Gorkha Rifles jawan travelling on a train
did not hesitate to take on a gang of 30 armed dacoits singlehandedly, armed
with just a khukri, when he saw them looting his fellow passengers. A GRP
escort team posted on the train reportedly did nothing to stop the robbers
on Maurya Express late on Thursday.
Nearly 30 armed dacoits looted cash and valuables
worth `10 lakh from passengers of Maurya Express between Kulti and Chittaranjan
stations along the West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Thursday night.
The armed dacoits refused to mess with Vishnu
Shresta when they came to know that he is a soldier, but the 45-year-old Gorkha
Rifles jawan would not sit back and watch his fellow passengers being manhandled
and looted. The fearless Gurkha pulled out his khukri and fell upon the dacoits
till he was overpowered. After a hurried shot fired at him went astray, they
used the same khukri to slash Shresta's wrist.
Shresta is posted at Ranchi and was proceeding
on leave to Pokhra in Nepal. He boarded the Hatia-Gorakhpur Jn Maurya Express
from Ranchi on Thursday evening. When the raid took place, he was fast asleep
on his berth.
"Suddenly, there were shouts and the
sound of running feet," Shresta recounted from his bed at Kasturba Gandhi
Hospital in Chittaranjan. "Somebody pulled at my bedclothes. I sat up
and found a number of people standing near my feet. They demanded that I hand
over all my cash and valuables. There was confusion all around and I shouted
that I am an Indian Army jawan. The criminals backed off and turned their
attention to a woman and her child, who were on a berth close by," Shresta
added.
He lost his cool when he saw a miscreant trying
to pull out the girl, about 8 years old, from the berth and snatch a necklace
from her mother.
"I am a soldier and get paid to protect
citizens of this country. I could not sit back and watch as passengers were
looted. I pulled out my khukri and attacked the criminals. Initially, they
were taken by surprise and I succeeded in connecting with at least three of
them. The blows were severe and they must have got themselves admitted to
some hospital. By then, the criminals started fighting back. They fired a
shot that missed me. At one point of time, the khukri fell from my hand and
I was overpowered. They picked it up and used it on me," the jawan said.
After Shresta slumped to the ground, profusely
bleeding from his wound, all fight went out from the other passengers. None
of them dared to make eye contact with the criminals and did their bidding.
According to authorities, members of the gang
were travelling on the train posing as passengers. Around 11.25pm, about 10
minutes after the train left Kulti station, the criminals detached the vacuum
hose between two coaches. This brought the train to a stop. While some dacoits
entered S1, S2 and S3 coaches, others smashed the windows of the A1 and B1
air-conditioned compartments to gain entry.
"The miscreants were shouting in Hindi.
When they asked us to hand over all our valuables, I gave them my purse and
cellphone," said Nilu Verma, who was on her way to Lakhisarai from Katras.
Ajay Srivastava was walking back to his berth from the toilet when he was
accosted by the criminals. "One of them snatched my cellphone and asked
me to hand over my wallet. As I took some time to react, he slapped me and
snatched my belongings," said Srivastava, who was going to Muzaffarpur.
Anita Modi, on her way to Barauni, felt that
the 15-20 minutes of terror would never come to an end. "Passengers were
beaten up and abused. Even women were not spared. People were screaming but
nobody came to our assistance. When the train reached Chittaranjan, we were
feeling ill," she said.
Shresta said the criminals were in the late
thirties and carrying various types of weapons, including guns, daggers and
tangis. Strangely, railway staff on the train said they were not aware that
passengers had been robbed till they reached Chittaranjan. "We shall
discuss with the RPF and GRP on how to provide security on night trains in
this stretch," said G C Roy, senior divisional commercial manager of
Asansol.
Police succeeded in arresting six of the criminals
and recovered a part of the booty later. A manhunt has been launched for the
others. Asansol divisional railway manager Jagadanand Jha claimed that there
was a GRP escort on the train, but the personnel did little to prevent the
crime.