Snatcher targets woman on train at Chandigarh railway station

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 10

A man entered a train when it was leaving the Chandigarh railway station, snatched a woman’s purse containing Rs1.10 lakh and valuables, and escaped by jumping off the locomotive last evening, it has been alleged by a resident of Kalka.

As the speed of the train was slow, the snatcher, who also attacked the woman, did not get injured while jumping off. The woman was travelling from Kalka to Jammu with her husband and seven other members of her family when the alleged incident took place.

A neighbour and relative of the family, Varinder Sharma, told Chandigarh Tribune, “My neighbours, a total of nine family members — three men, three women and three children — were travelling from Kalka to Jammu on a train for a wedding function. On the way, at the Chandigarh station, platform number 4, where the train (Kalka-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Special - 04535) stops for about 15 minutes, my neighbours Charu and Amit Sukheja were looted of valuables worth Rs1,10,000 and house keys. An unknown person snatched the woman’s purse containing these items. They informed me about it in the morning through a phone call.”

Varinder said his neighbours called him from a BSNL connection as their phones were not working in Jammu. “They told me that the man came inside the train as it started leaving the station, snatched the woman’s purse and jumped off the moving train. In the process, he even hit the woman and her arms got bruised, they said. This happened between 7.30 pm and 7.40 pm when the train stopped at the station. They tried to pull the chain, but the train did not stop. The chain, probably, wasn’t working. Then, they informed the TTE, who sounded the division apparently,” he said.

Today, Varinder visited the city station to intimate the GRP about the incident and spoke to SHO Raj Kumar. “He showed me the CCTV footage, but the cameras on platform number 4 weren’t working. They are waiting for the victims to come and file a complaint. They will return to Kalka on Tuesday,” he said.

GRP SHO Raj Kumar said, “We have not received any complaint about the incident in writing. A relative came to the station and I wasn’t there at that time, so I spoke to him on the phone. He was shown the CCTV footage, but it was of no help. We will start a probe once a complaint is filed by the victims in writing.”

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