M A I N   N E W S

Arson at Dadri station; 2 die in firing

Noida, June 10
Two persons were killed when railway protection force (RPF) personnel opened fire to quell a mob that set afire Dadri railway station in Gautam Buddha Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh this morning.

Trouble broke out during a ticket-checking drive in a train coming to Delhi from Dhankaur when a youth died after he was allegedly beaten up and thrown off the Aligarh-Ghaziabad-Delhi EMU by the personnel.

Subsequently, the mob stopped the Dankaur-Shakurbasti EMU. They hurled stones and ransacked the train before setting afire the railway station.

Movement of around 40 trains on the Delhi-Howrah route was affected. Three RPF personnel and more than 12 passengers and local people were injured.

The police battled with the protesters for three hours.

According to Station Master M.S. Meena, Rs 2 lakh kept in the station safe, which had been thrown away by the mob, was missing. He said tickets worth hundreds of thousands of rupees were gutted in the fire.

The General Manager of the Northern Railway, Mr Thomas Verghese, today ordered an inquiry into the mishap.

Sources in the Northern Railway told TNS that Mr Verghese visited the station with the Security Commissioner of the Railway Protection Force and announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the dead, 15,000 to the grievously injured and Rs 5000 to those with simple injuries.