BELAGAVI:
Eight labourers who were found unconscious in the Delhi-bound Goa Express train on Monday were discharged from the District Hospital at Belagavi on Thursday. Hospital authorities discharged all eight after they recovered totally and were found fit to travel to their native places in Madhya Pradesh.
According to police, the culprits who stole their mobile phones after sedating the eight passengers with food items are believed to have alighted before the Sanvordem station by pulling the chain of the train. Rajsingh Laxmiprasad Khangar (18) has registered a case with the Belagavi Railway Police but as the crime took place in Goa, the Belagavi Railway Police have transferred the case to the Goa Railway police.
“After they were admitted at around 9.30 pm on Monday, four of them were found serious and were admitted to the ICU, while others were given appropriate treatment. They are all fine and fitt to be discharged,” the medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Annasaheb Patil said.
All eight were working for a contractor and were returning to Khandwa, MP, with whatever little earnings they had since their contract was over.
“Four persons boarded the train at Vasco in the general bogies of the train. They started talking to us and said that they too were traveling to Madhya Pradesh. We were reluctant to eat the chocolates and chips they offered and only ate them afer they kept on insisting. We also drank the water they offered. Soon afer that, we fell unconscious. We don’t know what happened after that,” one of the victims, Ajay Pratap Palvi (23) told The Goan.
The other seven were identified as Pushpendra Ramkishore Rajak (19), Krishna Mansaram (18), Omprakash Munshi (18) Akash Shravan Palvi (18), Shiva Chongelal Palvi (18), Vikas Shravan Palvi (21) and Krishna Palavi (18), all from Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.
Palvi also said the culprits got away with all their belongings, including cash, baggage, and mobile phones, and they were left with nothing.
The eight labourers are presently in Belagavi and will be leaving for MP today. “The SWR will facilitate their travel,” a senior railway official said.
