Karnataka - Bangalore

Man killed in train dacoity

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Big loss: Amira Bibi and her daughter Sareena Khatun grieve over the death of Akmal Hussain, at the Bowring Hospital in Bangalore on Friday. Hussain, husband of Amira Bibi, was killed by dacoits while the family was travelling by train.

BANGALORE: On Thursday night, in the 10 minutes a train takes to travel from the City Railway station to Cantonment, three armed men entered the unreserved compartment of the Guwahati Express. They attacked a family, robbed them of their money and killed one of them and injured two even as other passengers watched in horror, but did nothing to stop it.

The family comprising Akmal Hussain, an agricultural labourer, his wife Amira Bibi, daughter Sareena Khatun and brother-in-law Nooh Ali were on their way home in West Bengal.

They had come to Bangalore to collect a Rs. 3 lakh cheque from a city court as compensation for the death of Mr. Hussain’s son Abdul Bari in an accident two years ago. Of the amount, they had withdrawn Rs. 1 lakh. After paying off the lawyers’ fees and meeting other expenses, the family was returning with Rs. 50,000, dividing the cash among themselves as a matter of caution.

As soon as the train left the city station, the dacoits stormed the compartment which was sparsely filled. According to Ms. Amira Bibi, they headed straight for the family.

“They pounced on my husband and searched his pockets and asked him to give all the money he was carrying. When Mr. Hussain resisted, they stabbed him on his waist and neck. I tried to prevent them from injuring my husband. But they slashed my hands,” Ms. Amira Bibi said.

Then they forced every one of them to part with the cash.

All this while the other passengers remained frozen. “They also took away my chain and one of my earrings and dragged me with my sari. One of them also tore part of my sari with his knife. Four Nepali passengers pleaded with them to spare us. They left even as I was attending to my injured husband,” she told The Hindu, weeping.

Trains usually move slowly between city and Cantonment stations and this makes it easy for people to jump off, the Railway police said.

At the Cantonment station, the family was taken off the train and admitted to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, where Mr. Hussain died early on Friday.

When this reporter met them at the hospital, a distraught Amira Bibi and Sareena, who speak only Bengali, said that Ms. Amira Bibi’s brother Mr. Nooh Ali had disappeared. “I don’t know where to go as my brother has gone missing and he has the address and contact details of our relatives here,” she said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Railways) M. Krishnappa said the police, who suspect the hand of someone known to the victim, were checking the people who hosted the family at Turubagere near Varthur. “We are also checking whether any known dacoits are involved in the attack,” he said.

Mr. Krishnappa said for the past three months the police had been patrolling the stretch between Yelahanka and Bangalore city railway stations, but not between the city and Cantonment stations.

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