Aligarh (UP), Jan 6: Two men were arrested for lighting a bonfire in a running train after a gateman alerted authorities to smoke emanating from a compartment of the New Delhi-bound Sampark Kranti Superfast Express, averting a major disaster.

According to an official of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Aligarh, the incident occurred on January 3 night when the gateman posted at a railway crossing near Barhan railway station observed a flash of light and smoke from a coach of train which was coming from Assam.

He immediately informed his superiors at the Barhan railway station after which an RPF team arranged for the train to be stopped at the next station Chamraula.

Simultaneously, as they were combing through the running train, they found that some men had lit a bonfire inside a general coach with dung cakes to get relief from the extreme cold conditions.

The fire was immediately doused before any major damage could occur and the train then proceeded to Aligarh Junction where 16 persons were detained.

The RPF Commandant posted at the Aligarh railway station, Rajiv Verma, told reporters on Saturday that two youths - identified as Chandan (23) and Devendra (25) - who belong to Faridabad admitted that they lit the bonfire for some comfort. They were booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Indian Railway Act and sent to jail.

The other 14 co-passengers, who had joined them later, were released with a warning.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Jammu (PTI): Six persons were taken into custody during an intensified anti-narcotics crackdown, with police recovering contraband substances and over Rs 23 lakh in Doda and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.

In a parallel action, properties worth over Rs 73 lakh linked to drug peddlers were also attached in Udhampur district under relevant legal provisions, the police said.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mohd Aslam said three persons, including a woman, were detained during a raid on a house at Dak Mohalla in the main town following recovery of 85 grams of suspected brown sugar and over Rs 23 lakh on Sunday evening.

He identified the woman as Zareena Begum, stating that she had been under police surveillance following inputs indicating her involvement in drug peddling.

Besides Zareena, officials said her daughter and son-in-law were also picked up by police during the raid.

“We have taken three individuals into custody. Their roles are being examined, and based on that, arrests will be made. We are continuing raids at other suspected locations,” Aslam said.

Three drug peddlers --Pardeep Singh of Hiranagar, Rahees Butt of Billawar and Ali Sen of Amritsar (Punjab) -- were arrested along with heroin at different places in Kathua district, a police spokesman said.

He said while 2.79 gm of heroin was seized from Singh, 2.66 gm were recovered Butt. Similarly, 303 gm of heroin was seized from Sen who was intercepted near Berrian-Pattan village while moving in a private car from Bhagthali to Maggar Khad on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.

All the three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigations are on, the spokesman said.

In Udhampur, the spokesman said properties worth Rs 73 lakh were attached in two separate cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The attached properties included a newly constructed residential house, a car, a motorcycle and a mobile phone with a total value of Rs 65 Lakh, belonging to accused Saif Ali who was booked under the NDPS case in Majalta area early this year, he said.

In another action, movable property worth Rs 8 lakh comprising a car, belonging to accused Danish Butt of Doda has been attached under Section 68(F) NDPS Act in connection with an FIR registered at Rehambal police station, the spokesman said.