In yet another attack in a running train in Bihar, unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot dead two passengers sleeping in an AC sleeper coach of the Howrah-Danapur Express.
The gunmen pumped bullets into the chest and head of the passengers, Vijay Kumar (30) and Anil Kumar (40), Superintendent of Police (Railways), Vinay Kumar, said, adding that the incident occurred between Bakhtiarpur and Khusrupur stations on the Patna-Bakhtiarpur section of the East Central Railway.
It was the fourth such attack in less than a fortnight.
A Border Security Force inspector was shot dead on May 27 when he tried to resist robbers on Farakka Express at Raghunathpur station. Four days later passengers lynched one dacoit and severely assaulted four others when they tried to rob them on the Patna-Palamou Express at Aurangabad.
On June 3, one passenger was shot dead and 10 were injured by dacoits on the Doon Express in Gaya district.
In the latest incident, surprisingly, none of the other passengers in the AC coach, which is generally guarded by armed security personnel, came to know about the killings till the train reached Patna junction in the morning.
The killers apparently jumped out of the train when it slowed down.
Kumar, who visited the scene of the crime, said the killings seemed to be related to rivalry over filing of tender for a rail project in Kolkata as the belongings of the victims, including valuables, were found intact.
He said some documents relating to the tender had been recovered from the victims, who belonged to Jamaludding Chak area in the outskirts of Patna.
The victims, along with one more person, had boarded the train at Howrah station in an ordinary sleeper coach and later got their tickets transferred.
Their co-passenger was identified as Somnath Prasad and on the basis of his complaint a first information report had been filed against one Ritlal Yadav, the Inspector General, Railway, A S Imran, said.