BANGALORE: Six passengers of the Mumbai-Bangalore Udayan express were drugged and robbed of their valuables by unidentified persons on the night of March 25, police said.
Co passengers in the S-8 coach got suspicious on seeing all six of them in deep slumber even as the train halted at Yelanka station on Wednesday, railway police inspecter Uday Bhasker said.
The railway police was immediatly alerted and all the passengers were rushed to hospital.
The incident was narrated by one of the passengers, a former bank employe, who gained consciouness earlier than the others. The other five passengers were Ashok, Tafiq, Rizwan and Arvind all businessmen and Anup, a techie.
All the passengers were from Bangalore and had boarded the train in Mumbai.
Narrating the incident to police, Chanderkanth (who gained consciouness) said that at around 4.30 PM at Sholapur, three persons entered the coach and came into their cubicle. The trio engaged then in friendly conversation.
The whole group got down at Yadgiri at around 8.30 PM for softdrinks and refreshment. The trio offered the other six some fruit juice in tetrapacks.
All five drank the juice, while Chanderkath, a diabetic took only a few sips. The six soon went into deep sleep.
Bhasker said the trio then robbed the passengers of all valuables, including mobile phones, laptops and wallets".
All the passengers were discharged late on Wednesday evening
Police suspect that the juice was drugged and that the stallkeeper at Yadigere station might be involved.
