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Poll police on rampage in Cooch Behar Train delay sparks station riot

Poll police on rampage in Cooch Behar Poll police on rampage in Cooch Behar
Train delay sparks station riot
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SPECIALCORRESPONDENT on 20 May, 2008 05:31:00
 
New Cooch Behar : A group of policemen beat up railway employees and ransacked
the station here because a train that was supposed to take them back after
election duty had not arrived on time.
Around 1,200 Howrah district police and railway police personnel had been
deployed in Cooch Behar for yesterday’s polling. Today, they were supposed
to go back to their place of posting by the special train.
When it did not arrive till 4.15pm, they “lost patience”.
The battered stationmaster, Monomohan Das, and his assistant, Niranjan Burman,
had to be hospitalised.
Passengers were chased off the station and at least three trains were stranded
until late tonight.
One of the policemen said: “We were on duty at a place where there was no
proper arrangement of food, lodging or transport. The delay in the train’s
arrival only added fuel to the fire.”
“The special train was supposed to reach here at 1pm. We were tired after
a hard day’s work yesterday. When the train did not arrive by 4.15pm, we
lost our patience,” he added.
In Calcutta, inspector-general of police (law and order) Raj Kanojia described
the incident as unfortunate and said an inquiry would be ordered.
Cooch Behar police chief Anil Kumar refused to speak. His force distributed
food packets among the gun-wielding men in khaki who chased away passengers who
came near them on the platform.
The men in khaki barged into food stalls and ransacked them and stormed railway
offices.
Several hundred passengers ran out of the station and took shelter outside.
“I’m taking my brother for treatment to Chennai and was waiting for
the Howrah-bound Saraighat Express when the trouble started,” said Ashok
Mustafi of Dinhata. “We somehow ran out of the station and have been
waiting here,” he said, sitting in an eatery.
The train, which was supposed to come at 5pm, finally chugged in at a quarter
to nine.
The Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail and Lohit Express, which goes to Jammu, were
also delayed by several hours.
“They suddenly went berserk and started beating us up,”
stationmaster Das said from his hospital bed.
A railway official said the Cooch Behar police chief, too, was locked up in a
room. But Kumar denied being held hostage.
In Calcutta, Kanojia said a preliminary investigation had revealed that
“the fatigued policemen had lost their cool”.
“We had paid an advance for the train, but the railways failed to arrange
it on time. However, the policemen should not have gone on the rampage,”
he added.
The rampaging policemen were finally herded into the special train at 9.34pm.