A mob of students today burnt four AC bogies of Shramajeevi Express at the Bihta railway station after a clash with securitymen.
A mob of students today burnt four AC bogies of Shramajeevi Express at the Bihta railway station, about 35 km from here, after a clash with securitymen who prevented them from forcibly occupying reserved seats.
Superintendent of Railway Police (Patna) UK Singh said a group of students boarded the air-conditioned compartments of 2392 New Delhi-Rajgir Shramajeevi Express at Ara railway station and tried to grab reserved seats.
They picked a quarrel and clashed with the security personnel when they were asked to deboard at Bihta, the next station.
Three students, including the one identified as Santosh, sustained injuries in the clash, Singh said, adding that they got infuriated following a rumour that Santosh had died.
The angry students then smashed the window panes of the superfast train and torched the AC coaches at Bhita, he said.
Police reached the spot and baton charged the students to control the situation, he said.
The passengers in the AC coaches soon alighted from their train with their luggage when the trouble started, official sources said, adding that four passengers were injured in stone pelting and clash.
East Central Railway's Danapur division PRO RK Singh confirmed that the four air-conditioned coaches of the train were gutted.
The PRO, however, said the clash occurred between the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel and the students and the RPF was not not involved.
Two fire tenders sent from Patna reached the spot late and fought for more than an hour to control the fire, the sources said.
Unauthorised travel by students from Ara and Buxar in AC coaches continued to worry railway officials with several complaints being made by passengers for the problems they face when the train enters Bihar from New Delhi.
The students, however, alleged that the security personnel were trying to extort money which they resented and in turn led to a tussle.
According to an initial report, the securitymen bolted the doors of the bogies from inside following which the students got agitated and set the coaches on fire from outside Singh said.
Train services were disrupted for several hours on the Patna-Mughalsarai route, he added.
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