The Railway Protection Force (RPF), Coimbatore division have arrested two persons who were allegedly involved in vandalising the Vande Bharat train passing through Peelamedu railway station, Coimbatore. The accused allegedly hurled stones on the premier train on December 7, damaging its window panes. Subsequently, a special team was formed to arrest the accused.
The arrested accused were identified as Saravanan (28), a resident of Mannargudi in Thiruvarur and Jagadeesh (23), a resident of Kovilmedu in Coimbatore. The RPF in a statement said that the accused were detained on Wednesday, December 13, when the police were patrolling the Peelamedu area. They said that the accused were detained for their suspicious activity near the railway track. And after investigation the accused confessed to vandalising the train. The accused “threw stones at the train for fun,” RPF said in its statement.
The accused have been produced before the court.
There have been numerous instances of miscreants pelting stones at the Vande Bharat trains since its introduction in 2019.
Earlier this year, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed that the Indian Railways has suffered losses to the tune of more than Rs 55 lakh due to incidents of stone pelting on Vande Bharat trains since 2019.
The Minister told the Parliament that they had arrested 151 individuals who were involved in the crime. He also said that there were no incidents of passenger casualties, theft, or damage to passenger belongings in the stone pelting incidents.
Vande Bharat are premier trains made under the ‘Make in India’ campaign. The train hosts special features like automatic doors, WiFi connectivity, vacuum toilets, and intercommunication doors etc. These trains are specially designed to cut down the travel time as these trains are capable of hitting the speed of 160 km per hour.
At present, a total of 34 Vande Bharat trains are in service.