Bengaluru: It was early Monday morning, and Murdeshwar Express, running between Murdeshwar and Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal, was passing Channapatna. Suddenly, a big gunny bag was thrown at the locomotive engine. The loco pilot applied sudden brakes, but the superfast train came to a halt after half a furlong. On examination, the loco pilot and guards of the train found the gunny bag contained a gas stove, a cylinder and some paper documents, including a bank passbook. Quickly, the message was passed to senior railway officials, and railway police swung into action.“There was no explosive stuff in the bag. The gas stove was completely mangled, while the cylinder was partially damaged. A careful examination revealed the bank passbook was in the name of one Pintoo,” superintendent of railways, Sarah Fathima told TOI.Railway police reached the bank branch at Channapatna. “Pintoo worked as an assistant with a steel manufacturing factory in Channapatna and close to the railway tracks. He revealed details of the entire incident,” Fathima said.According to Pintoo’s confession, the gunny bag was thrown by his colleague-cum-roommate Vinod Kumar. “Pintoo, Vinod and Vijay Shankar are from Uttar Pradesh and work in the steel factory. They live in a tiny room on the factory premises. On Sunday night, all three consumed alcohol, and a fight broke out between Vinod and Pintoo. Pintoo and Shankar beat up Kumar badly. Angered, Kumar, after the others slept, packed the gas stove, cylinder and bank documents of Pintoo in the gunny bag and threw it on the railway track. Coincidentally, the bag hit the locomotive engine,” Fathima said. After throwing the bag, Vinod fled to Jigani, and he was traced by Tuesday.Railway police booked a sabotage case against Vinod, while an undertaking saying they would not repeat such fights in future was taken from Pintoo and Shankar.
