Indian Railway Protection Force foiled a dacoity attempt on the Siddheshwar Express, arresting nine women allegedly involved in the planned crime.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Central Railway has arrested nine women for allegedly planning to commit dacoity on board the Siddheshwar Express in Maharashtra, officials said on Thursday.
An RPF Crime Prevention and Detection Squad on duty at Kurduwadi railway station on Wednesday night noticed three women behaving suspiciously on the platform, the Central Railway said in a release.
After being questioned and asked to leave the station premises, the women boarded the Latur Express. The RPF personnel alerted officials at other railway stations in the division and asked them to keep the women under watch.
The suspects got down at Jeur railway station and boarded the Mumbai-Solapur Siddheshwar Express. RPF teams kept them under surveillance, and they were detained at Solapur station, the release said.
Questioning revealed that they were part of a dacoits' gang which operated in Solapur and Pune railway divisions, it said. The women, aged between 18 and 40 years and residents of Dharashiv district, were later handed over to the Government Railway Police at Kurduwadi.
A case was registered against them under section 310(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (preparation for dacoity), officials said, adding that further investigation was underway.