Train hijack hoax causes panic

Two railway drivers created a flutter by claiming that the Delhi-Ranchi Express had been hijacked. It turned out to be a hoax and officials said the incident was a fall-out of “rivalry” between two workers’ unions.

Railways and security officials went into a tizzy as drivers Manoj Singh and Shafeek Alam claimed they were scheduled to operate the Ranchi-bound Garib Rath to Kanpur but two other drivers had hijacked it from Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi on Wednesday evening.

When the train reached Kanpur, the railway police detained its drivers Harswaroop and Rameshvar. They were released after it was confirmed that they had been assigned to take the train to Kanpur from Delhi.

An inquiry has been ordered into the incident, officials said.

“The ruckus was a result of rivalry between the drivers’ unions of the Kanpur and Delhi divisions,” Chief PRO (Railways) D Bajpayee said.

Singh and Alam of the Kanpur division were to take the train only from Kanpur to New Delhi and created the drama as they wanted extra allowances, he claimed.

A railway driver is paid allowances according to the distance he covers.