Call it the ‘efficiency’ of the Railway Police or the effect of a judge lodging an FIR, the valuables stolen from an air-conditioned compartment of a train were recovered from another train following it. 

At least 15 passengers travelling in the A-1 bogie of Pune-Patna Express realised that their luggage was missing. The robbery incident apparently took place between Allahabad and Mughalsarai (both in Uttar Pradesh). At Mughalsarai, a formal complaint was lodged, but nothing came out of it.

Four hours later, when the train reached Patna junction, the judge Md Salim, one of the victims, lodged an FIR with the Government Railway Police. Other co-passengers — Archana Prasad of SBI and KM Prasad — too lodged separate complaints narrating that their luggage was stolen when they were fast asleep.

The judge, posted here as Chief Judicial Magistrate, wrote in his complaint about the possible involvement of the coach attendant and the absence of the escort party, as the two reasons behind the en masse theft from one particular compartment.

The Bihar Police swung into action, and, much to everyone’s surprise, within four hours gave a call to all the complainants to come and identify their luggage as the following train – Lokmanya Tilak Kurla-Patna Express — had at least 20 unclaimed baggages in its sleeper coach S-5.

The victims, including the judge, rushed to Patna junction, and found their luggage at the GRP office. “It’s true that the judge and other passengers got back their luggage within hours,” a senior railway police officer posted here told Deccan Herald on Thursday. He however, refused to divulge how this ‘miracle’ happened.