Passenger drugged, robbed of gadgets & gold on Malabar Express; 3 arrested after CCTV trail

Kasaragod: An evening train journey home turned into a nightmare for a Vadakara native after he was drugged and robbed of his gadgets and gold aboard the Malabar Express.

Two days later, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the state Government Railway Police (GRP) tracked down the accused after poring over CCTV footage from railway stations along the route.

The incident occurred on March 13 in the sleeper coach of the train, where the passenger, identified as Sarin V K, lost his laptop, mobile phone and a gold ring worth ₹2 lakh.

According to the police, Sarin had boarded the Malabar Express from Mangaluru around 6.15 pm. About an hour into the journey, as the train reached Kumbla, a Hindi-speaking youth struck up a conversation with him. The stranger later offered him biscuits allegedly laced with a sedative.

What followed was a blur. Sarin has no recollection of the events after that. The train crossed his destination, Vadakara, around 9.40 pm while he remained unconscious. Around 11.30 pm, as the train reached Tirur in Malappuram district, he regained partial consciousness.

Groggily, he dragged himself out and later reached Tirur Government Hospital, where he was admitted in the early hours of March 14. The suspected robbery came to light only after he was examined. He was later shifted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for further treatment.

The Kasaragod Railway Police registered a case under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 307 (theft after preparation to cause hurt), Section 123 (causing hurt by poisoning) and Section 305(c) (theft in a train).

A joint team of RPF's flying squad and GRP in Kozhikode launched an investigation, scanning CCTV footage from multiple railway stations along the route. The breakthrough came when the footage showed three suspects getting off at Kozhikode railway station around 10.30 pm, about an hour before Sarin regained consciousness.

Police said the accused had checked into a lodge in Kozhikode and were later moving around on trains when the joint squad apprehended them. They were from Bihar's Araria district, around 50km from the Nepal border.

The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Safar (40) of Domaria village in Palasi block; Mahamood Alam (35) of Chakai near Jokihat; and Abdullah Rajak (34) of Chakkari, all in Araria district. Police said they recovered all the stolen items from them.

The accused were produced before a court in Kasaragod on Monday and remanded in judicial custody. They face a jail term of up to 10 years if convicted. Police are also probing whether they are involved in similar cases of train robbery.

Following the incident, Government Railway Police and RPF officials have once again cautioned passengers against accepting food or drinks from strangers during train journeys.