Chhattisgarh’s Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Saturday arrested five people for allegedly pelting stones on the Vande Bharat Express train during its trial run, resulting in damage to the windows of three coaches C2-10, C4-1, and C9-78.
No injuries were reported.
The incident reportedly occurred on the evening of Friday during a trial run of the Vande Bharat train on the Durg-Visakhapatnam route. When the train reached Bagbahara station of Mahasamund, some miscreants pelted stones on the train.
The RPF team acted swiftly upon reading a tip-off, leading to the arrest of five persons identified as Shivam Kumar Baghel, Jeetu Tandi, Lekhraj Sonwani, Arjun Yadav and Devendra Chandrakar, all residents of Bagbahara.
The RPF filed a case under the Railway Act 1989, which includes provisions for endangering passenger safety, potentially leading to a prison sentence of upto five years.
Speaking on the incident, BJP leader Dr Vimal Chopra said, “Only people who are against development can pelt stones on the Vande Bharat train. Non-bailable sections should be imposed on such miscreants and they should be sent to jail.”
The incident took place just days before the official inauguration of the train service, which is set to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 16.
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