Thaindian News

Vadodara (Gujarat), Oct 4 (IANS) A shootout on a packed running train in Gujarat following a tiff between a passenger and a rail staffer over bill payment left a youth dead and another injured, police said Sunday.
The incident occurred at around 11.30 p.m. Saturday in the general compartment of the Gorakhpur-Mumbai Awadh Express near Vadodara, said Vadodara Government Railway Police Inspector D.J. Choudhary.

“After serving dinner, the pantry car staffers went to collect the payment from a couple of passengers. But they denied having eaten anything from the pantry,” Choudhary told IANS.

At this, the enraged pantry car staffer allegedly slapped the unidentified passenger for refusing to pay the bill.

The passenger retaliated by whipping out a revolver and threatened to shoot the staffer, when the train was near Limbadi station in Godhra region, an hour away from Vadodara.

“Even as the other passengers created an uproar, the passenger started firing at the staffer who ducked. The bullet hit another passenger sitting nearby,” said an official of Godhra Railway Police.

As chaos and panic ruled the compartment, the train arrived at the Godhra railway station and the police there took charge of the situation.

The victim has been identified as Biren Bahadur Singh (25), son of Kamlesh Bahadur Singh Thakur of Rahera village of Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The injured, who has been admitted to hospital, is a 25-year-old labourer, Monu Baburam Yadav, from Dera village of Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur district.

The two prime accused - unidentified so far - involved in the killing took advantage of the prevailing chaos in the running train and managed to escape. Gujarat police are on the look out for them.

After some delay, the Awadh Express started for its onward journey to Mumbai and reached there Sunday morning.