Rajasthan: Vagrant sets train coaches on fire

A vagabond allegedly set off a fire in empty coaches of two trains after an attendant pushed him out of a bogie when he was picking up leftovers, leading to loss of rail property, a railway official said on Saturday.

Ganga Ram, 22, was arrested on Friday night for starting the fires, first in the AC coach of Suryanagari Express and two hours later in a bogie of Mandore Express, as revenge for being scolded by a coach attendant, Chief Security Commissioner Ashish Mishra told reporters.

The AC tier III coach of Suryanagari Express was completely charred from inside, while the fire in AC I-cum-II coach of Mandore Express was detected early, leading to lesser damage, the official said.

Railway officials checked the CCTV video footage, in which they spotted Ram leaving the coach shortly before the fire started, Mishra said.

Ram had entered AC tier III coach of Suryanagri Express in the morning after all the passengers had left the train to pick up leftovers, he said.

"The coach attendant asked him to leave the coach, which led to an altercation between the two and he threatened to take revenge," he said.

Ram waited until the attendant left and again entered the coach with some papers, after which he set them on fire and left the spot, Mishra said.

After about two hours, he started another fire in AC tier I-cum-II coach of the Mandore Express, which had arrived on platform no 3 at 7:40 am, he said.

"We checked the CCTV footage from the platform no 1, where the Suryanagri Express was parked and found Ganga Ram entering the coach," he said.

"When we caught him somewhere from out of the station after searching him, he confessed to setting these two coaches ablaze just to take revenge of his scolding by the coach attendant," he said.

Ram, who belongs to Shergarh tahsil near Jodhpur, is a vagabond who sleeps on the platform, he said.