Jhansi: A terror alert on the Amritsar–Visakhapatnam Hirakund Express on Sunday turned out to be the result of a seating dispute rather than an actual threat, officials told PTI.
Railway SP Vipul Kumar Srivastava said the RPF control room was informed that suspected terrorists were on board train number 20808. The alert originated at Datia station in Madhya Pradesh, where RPF personnel and local police removed four passengers after an argument.
Investigations later found that the quarrel was over seats and that one passenger had falsely labelled three Muslim co-passengers as terrorists, triggering the alert, the SP, as per PTI report.
Police are questioning the four men — Ramesh Paswan of Abbot Market and H Bilal Jilani, Ishan Khan, and Faizan of Talpura, all residents of Jhansi.
The train was thoroughly checked, including its front general coach, and no suspicious person or item was found. After about 30 minutes, it was cleared to depart around 3:30 p.m.
Officials said the general coach had already been inspected with a sniffer dog at Datia, and Jhansi authorities conducted a second round of checks before allowing the train to continue to Visakhapatnam.
