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A deputy chief ticket inspector was assaulted by a group of sixteen youths from Chembur, all aged between 16 and 19 years.
They were travelling on Porbander-bound Saurashtra Janta Express train on Saturday morning when Rajan K Nair, the ticket checker, demanded a fine for occupying a reserved coach. The group got into an altercation with him and assaulted him with cricket bats.
“When I found that all of them had invalid tickets from Chembur to Saphale station, I asked them to pay a fine of Rs 340 each. The train left Vaitarna station and was nearing Saphale station when one boy from the group said he would pay the fine; the others alighted from the train. I thought something was fishy and detained the boys who were inside the coach,” recalled Nair.
“Just then the train started moving and the boys who were on the platform got into the train with bats and cricket stumps. They assaulted and punched me. They also tried to snatch by mobile. I also heard a few from the group asking the assaulters to throw me out of the moving train,” he added.
A few women passengers came to Nair’s rescue. “They shouted at the boys and formed a circle around me to stop them from assaulting me,” the ticket checker said.
Nair pulled the chain as the train was approaching Kelve Road station, but when the train halted the youths jumped onto the tracks and fled.
At Palghar station, Nair lodged a complaint with the Government Railway Police. Said Police Inspector Pramod Davre, “We have registered a case of assault on a government servant on duty and other relevant charges against unknown persons. We have seized tickets of the youths and from the serial numbers we will arrest the assaulters.”