PUNE: Fourteen passengers travelling by the Pune-Manduadih Gyan Ganga Express were allegedly robbed of a total Rs 10,000 at knifepoint by a gang of 12 eunuchs and three others between Pune and Loni Kalbhor railway stations on Monday evening.

The government railway police (GRP), Daund, arrested seven eunuchs at Daund railway station after one of the passengers alerted the railway police control room by dialling the emergency numbers displayed on train . The GRP have launched a massive hunt for the eight other gang members.

The gang boarded the crowded general compartment of the train at Pune station at 4.15pm.

One of the passengers, Lavlesh Kumar Ram Niranjan Yadav (23) from Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, said on Tuesday that there were nearly 250 passengers travelling in the compartment. Minutes after the train left the platform, the gang started demanding money from them if they wanted to occupy the seats in the compartment.

Yadav, who works as a driver for a private firm in Pune, told TOI on phone from Jabalpur that he appealed to the suspects to spare him as he had a valid ticket. “But they rejected my plea and accused me of arguing with them,” he said.

He said that one of them robbed Rs 500 from his pocket at knifepoint. The other gang members, who were also brandishing knifes, robbed his co-passengers of varying amounts. They also beat up some passengers and slapped children for refusing to shell out money, Yadav said.

“The passengers were too afraid to react to the situation. I alerted the railway police control room on the emergency number. I told them that some of the robbers had jumped out of the running train after it slowed down near Loni Kalbhor station,” he added.

Assistant inspector Vasant Shete of the GRP, Daund, told TOI that after the control room informed them about the incident, they sent a five-member police team, which immediately nabbed seven eunuchs who alighted at Daund station at 5.30pm.

He said, “The eunuchs were about to board another train, but we managed to take them into custody. We have recovered Rs 4,780 from them. They were handed over to the GRP, Pune, for further action,” he added.

Inspector Abhay Parmar, in charge of GRP, Pune, said, “The eunuchs initially claimed that they had been begging in the train, when some passengers picked up a quarrel with them. Later, during interrogation, they admitted to having thrashed and robbed passengers at knifepoint.”

He added that the GRP were checking their antecedents and probing their suspected involvement in robberies and other crimes reported on trains. The GRP had arrested four eunuchs in a robbery case in 2014, Parmar said.

The arrested include Priya Dodke (19), Tasni Bhute (23), Priya Bhute (19), Joya Bhute (19), Babli Bhute (22), Kejal Bhute (20) and Sweety Daibhate (19), all from Shastrinagar in Pune.

Sub-inspector Shamshuddin Shaikh of the GRP, Pune, who is investigating the case, said that a magisterial court has remanded the eunuchs in police custody till March 6. He said the eunuchs will be interrogated further for information about their accomplices to recover the money and weapons used in the crime.

Yadav has registered a complaint against the gang under Section 395 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code. Inspector Arun More of the local crime branch of the railways is conducting parallel investigations to trace the other suspects.