A middle-aged woman travelling in a government bus from Jalpaiguri to Malda was drugged and looted of her cash and gold ornaments allegedly by one of her co-passengers on Wednesday, but the driver and conductor went beyond their call of duty to help her.

The duo took the unconscious woman, Archana Mondal, 51, to a health centre, ensured her treatment, and informed the police and her family.

The driver and conductor, along with almost 40 passengers, waited at the health centre for three hours and left only after Mondal’s family members arrived.

Sources said Mondal had boarded an early morning NBSTC (North Bengal State Transport Corporation) bus from Raninagar, on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri, headed for Farakka. She was returning home in Manikchak of Malda. On the way, when the bus got stuck in traffic at Kishanganj in Bihar around 10am, conductor Snehasish Rudra and some passengers noticed she was unconscious.

Driver Bijoy Soren drove the bus to the nearest health centre in Chakulia (North Dinajpur). There, doctors confirmed that she had been drugged. Rudra and Soren informed the local police.

When Mondal became conscious, she said that her ornaments and cash had been stolen and provide details of her family. The conductor immediately called up her family. The woman, he said, told the police that her co-passenger had offered her some food and she had eaten it. That passenger, it appears, had left the bus before Kishanganj. No one has been arrested so far.

“It appears this person took away her ornaments and cash. We have time and again urged passengers not to accept food or water from strangers. We keep an eye on passengers but they should also be alert,” the conductor said.