Vande Bharat Express Stone Pelting: Railway Police Nabs 6 Pelters Using Train`s Footage

The Vande Bharat Express train was pelted with stones between Pithapuram and Samarlakota, which was used as a clue to apprehend the offenders.

The Railway police in Andhra Pradesh have apprehended six people, including three juveniles, for hurling stones at a Vande Bharat train recently, which delayed the train by four hours.

With the help of CCTV footage from surveillance cameras installed on the train bound to Secunderabad from Visakhapatnam, police identified the exact spot from where the stones were pelted, leading to broken window panes of the coach. 

Around 7:30 am on Friday, the Divisional railway police control room had received information that the train was pelted with stones between Pithapuram and Samarlakota, said the South Central Railway (SCR) zone's Vijayawada Division in a statement on Wednesday. Immediately, railway police from Rajamahendravaram and Samarlakota rushed to the spot but could not locate them. 

However, on examining the on board footage, police found six youth present between Pithapuram and Samarlakota railway stations. They managed to identify one of the offenders and, through him, all the others, following which all the six were booked under Section 153 of the Railways Act. 

Excluding the minors, three others were produced before the Railway Court in Vijayawada, which remanded them till May 16. While the minors were produced before a Juvenile Court in Rajamahendravaram, which sent them to a juvenile home.