Betul, Madhya Pradesh: An ex-army traveling in a 12804 Swarna Jayanti Express S4 coach from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Visakhapatnam was manhandled by the pantry car manager and others on Sunday evening. After getting the information, the GRP reached the spot when the train reached Betul station at around eight o’clock in the night and the injured have been admitted to the district hospital. The GRP has registered a case against the pantry car manager and two employees and arrested two.
GRP outpost in-charge NS Thakur said that Visakhapatnam resident Vilash Naik, an ex-army officer traveling in an S4 coach, has complained of assault by the manager of the pantry car and others. He was admitted to the district hospital due to injuries on his nose and mouth. He was discharged from the hospital after treatment.
Injured Vilas Naik said, “some Muslim youths were offering Namaz while sitting on the way in the train that was going to Visakhapatnam from Hazrat Nizamuddin. There was a problem in getting out from there, and I objected to this. When I also started praying while sitting on the way, the employees of the pantry car tried to remove me from the way, due to which there was a dispute and the manager and employees of the pantry car had a fight.”
Mujakkir Rahmat, a resident of Vijayawada traveling in the train told that he was going from Nizamuddin Markaz to Vijayawada Guntur. It was time for Namaz at 5.30 pm. Meanwhile, when he sat down to offer Namaz, the passenger sitting on the side berth asked him to move. They were asked to wait till the namaz was over. As soon as the prayer was over, he went back to his seat. After this, the ex-army sat on the way and started stopping the employees of the pantry car from coming and going citing reasons of praying. It was then that a brawl between them started.
The GRP interrogated Vijayawada residents Mujakkir Rahmat, Allah Baksh Sheikh, and Sheikh Salman, who were traveling in the coach along with pantry car manager Harvesh Srivastava, vendor Pawan Singh Sengar and another employee, after deboarding them from the train for questioning. The pantry car manager and the other employees have been booked under sections 294, 322, and 34 of the IPC.