At least 3 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire. Police also had to lathicharge to disperse the mob. (Source: Express photo) At least 3 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire. Police also had to lathicharge to disperse the mob. (Source: Express photo)

Hundreds of locals, angry over the death of a youth who slipped off a running train on Thursday evening, set fire to one of the bogies of an express train and ransacked a railway station in Puri district on Friday morning. However, no passenger has been injured.

On Thursday evening, Ratikanta Chhatoi, a 22-year-old barber who worked in Bhubaneswar, slipped off the 18416 Barbil-Puri Express at Delanga railway station in Puri while trying to get down.

Though the train does not halt at Delang, passengers regularly get down as the train slows down for a minute. Chhatoi, who could not get down, jumped off from the train only to be run over by the same train.

After his death, the family members of Chhatoi and other locals did not allow the government railway police to remove the body from the tracks. “Since this morning when the the same train reached Delanga station at 7 am from Puri, the local people stopped it demanding hefty compensation to one of the family members of the deceased and stoppage of the same train at Delanga,” said Chitta Jena, a villager of Delanga.

As discussions between the local people and railway officials proved futile, a few miscreants set fire to one of the sleeper coaches of the train at 11.30 am with petrol from a car. Another coach was also partially burnt. The mob also ransacked the station, vandalising the computers and other railway infrastructure.

At least 3 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire. Police also had to lathicharge to disperse the mob. One coach of the said train was completely gutted.

Before the mob started ransacking, the driver and other passengers of the train had fled the train. No one has been arrested so far over the incident.

“Several trains had to be detained due to the violence. East Coast Railway will press for strong deterrent action against the miscreants,” said JP Mishra, chief public relation officer of East Coast Railways.

While 4 passenger trains were cancelled and one express train short-terminated, 9 other trains including Okha-Puri Express, Howrah-Puri Express, Lokmanya Tilak-Puri Express, New Delhi-Puri Purusottam Express were detained enroute. Railway movement was normalised around 3 pm.

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