TN train robbery: Thieves may have cut through coach roof at yard, say police

Salem: The police team investigating the great train robbery, suspect that the roof of the coach with soiled currencies, being transported to RBI in Chennai, could have been cut through when the train was stationed in the yard and not on the move.

Speaking to journalists after inspecting the railway junction in Salem, Z Annie Vijaya, SP, Tiruchy division, said that it was not possible to cut through the roof on a running train.

“So we suspect that the coach could have been cut through, while it was stationed in the yard in Coimbatore or in Erode. The coach was brought from Coimbatore to Erode and then to Salem to link it with the train bound for Chennai,” she said.

“Though the train runs on diesel engine from Salem to Virudachalam, there is little chance for the robbery to have occurred in that route. Since there is also high tension over head electrical line at Salem and Virudachalam railway junctions, there is no possibility of the incident to have occurred there too,” she said.

Enquiries were also on with railway staff, who were in the know on the transportation of cash in the train. “We are collecting details of habitual offenders in Attur, Chinna Salem and Vikiravandi areas and are also probing to know if any north Indian thieves were involved in the daring robbery,” she said.

Salem division Railway protection force (RPF) assistant commissioner Raj Mohan said that three special teams have been formed to investigate the robbery.

“We are also looking at an angle whether the robbers had got into the coach even when it was brought from Erode district,” she said. Meanwhile, Salem city police commissioner Sanjay Kumar said that action will be initiated against the nine armed reserve cops including an assistant commissioner, who went on guard for the coach loaded with cash.