The Railway Protection Force (RPF), Rajahmundry, arrested six persons including three juveniles for pelting stones at Vande Bharat Express between Samalkot and Pithapuram stations on April 28.
Following the incident, Vande Bharat Express was rescheduled by four hours for maintenance at Visakhapatnam Depot on April 29, causing severe inconvenience to the passengers.
The RPF, with the help of the State police, had retrieved the CCTV footages of an approach road and traced the six youth proceeding to the location. While again enquiring the villagers at the location, RPF found one suspect. After thorough enquiry and scrutiny of call records, the youth admitted of the wrongdoing and shared the information about the others involved. The remaining five people were immediately traced with the support of locals and State Police. Three of them are below 18 years of age.
All the six were booked under Section 153 of the Railways Act. Three persons above 18 years were presented before the Railway Court, Vijayawada and they were remanded till May 16. Meanwhile, the three juveniles were produced before the Juvenile Court, Rajahmundry, and sent to the juvenile home for further action.
Valleswara Babuji, Thokala, Sr DSC, Vijayawada Division, congratulated B Saidaiah, IPF Rajahmundry and team for cracking down the case, and apprehending the perpetrators for stone-pelting. He said that stone pelting on trains was a criminal offence and stringent action would be taken against the perpetrators under Section 153 of Railways Act, which is punishable with imprisonment which may extend up to 5 years.
Shivendra Mohan, DRM complimented the RPF Team for their due diligence and apprehending the culprits. He said that such instances had not only led to damage of public property, but also led to rescheduling of the train.
