Ex-serviceman opens fire inside train after argument with coach attendant

A 41-year-old man allegedly opened fire inside the Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express over an argument with a coach attendant for a seat, a railway official said on Friday.

There was no report of any casualty in the incident.

The accused, a retired Army employee, has been arrested following the act that took place around 9.45 pm on Thursday inside the B-7 coach between Dhanbad and Gomoh stations under the Dhanbad division of East Central Railway (ECR), he said.

”The man, identified as Harvinder Singh, is being interrogated. Prima facie, it appears that he was in an inebriated state when he opened fire,” senior divisional commercial manager (Dhanbad rail division), Amresh Kumar, told PTI.

Singh had a ticket for the Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, but he boarded the Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on Thursday evening at Dhanbad railway station by mistake, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) official said.

After he boarded the train, Singh had an altercation with the coach attendant over a seat and amid the argument, he allegedly opened fired from his revolver, the official said.

RPF personnel immediately seized the pistol and he was arrested at Koderma railway station.