Akmal Hussein and his wife Ameera Beebi had no clue about the tragedy to befall them, when they left Uripura in Panchmahal district. They came to Bangalore along with their daughter Saria Khatoom and Hussein’s cousin Mohammad Nuhoo on December 23.
The Husseins were staying at the house of one of their relatives in Marathalli. All four boarded the train carrying a sum of Rs 70,000 with them. And before the train could reach Cantonment railway station, tragedy struck.
A grief-stricken Ameera narrated the incident, “A gang of four unidentified persons barged into the general compartment, seconds after the train departed Bangalore City railway station. Before we could understand what was happening, the gang members opened knives and directed us to give the money. My husband protested saying he had no money. One of them started assaulting him. When he tried to protect himself, he stabbed him on the chest several times. One of them thrashed Nuhoo when he tried to intervene. Those inside the compartment were watching the incident as mute spectators. No one bothered to pull the chain to step and we were not in a position to pull the chain. Within few minutes, the trained slowed down. The accused jumped down and vanished into the darkness,” he added.
“We immediately took him to Bowring Hospital where he was treated. The doctors asked us to shift him to SD Sanatorium where he breathed his last,” she added.
Cops confident
Railway police have said they are confident about solving the case at the earliest. “As they were moving with a heavy amount of cash, someone who was aware about that might have executed the robbery. We are focusing our investigation on this line. The victims were staying at Marathahalli and the accused might have been from the same area,” said Superintendent of Railway Police Srinivasan.
Railway officials kept silent on the issue of giving compensation to victims.