Patna, Aug 28 (Inditop.com) A man who was part of a mob that torched a Delhi-Patna train in Bihar 10 days ago has been arrested, police said Friday.
So far, 26 people have been identified through video clippings provided by news channels as being part of the group that set fire to the Shramjivi Express Aug 18 following an altercation with Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, Deputy Inspector General (Railway Police) Arvind Pandey said.
“The Railway Police has arrested Faiz Ahmad alias Chand, one of the 26 identified culprits, and he is being interrogated to arrest others involved in the case,” Pandey said.
On Aug 18, a group of students had a heated exchange of words with railway personnel after they were found travelling without tickets. Following this, the angry mob pelted stones and set two air-conditioned coaches of the train on fire at Bihta railway station, about 30 km from here.
The fire spread to two other air conditioned coaches as well though no one was injured in the incident, officials said.
The four coaches that were burnt were worth Rs.3.5 crore (Rs.35 million) as each AC coach costs a minimum of Rs.75 lakh, a railway official said.
Both the state government and the railway police have launched a probe into the incident. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had asked the police to take stern action against the culprits.
In view of the incident, the police have decided to set up a separate control room for the government railway police and the RPF.
Railway sources said that the Bihta incident is the second in three months where students burnt train coaches to vent their anger. In June, students had burnt four coaches of two trains at Khusrupur, about 32 km from Patna.
