At least seven passengers were assaulted and belongings worth Rs 76,000 were looted by robbers in Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi Express in Jharkhand’s Latehar district, a railway official said on Sunday.

The incident happened around Saturday midnight between Latehar and Barwadih stations under Dhanbad division of East Central Railway (ECR). Around 10-12 robbers boarded the train at Latehar station and threatened passengers by firing in the air near Chhipadohar station, a passenger claimed.

"Many passengers were beaten by the robbers," he said.

Senior divisional commercial manager of Dhanbad division Amresh Kumar told PTI, "The incident happened in S9 coach. Seven passengers received minor injuries, while belongings of 13 passengers worth Rs 75,800 were looted." He said an FIR has already been registered. "Around eight mobile phones were also looted. Four of them were found active in the morning. Our technical team is tracing their locations," he said.

Passengers created a ruckus against the loot when the train reached Daltonganj station. The train was stopped there for around two hours.Daltonganj sub-divisional magistrate Rajesh Kumar Shah, who also reached the station last night, said that the injured were admitted to Medinirai Medical College and Hospital. Two of them are little serious, he said.

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