Agnipath stir: T'gana rail station turns battle zone, net curbs in 15 Bihar dists

A train coach set on fire by protesters at Danapur station on Friday

The Secunderabad railway station turned a battle zone on Friday as protesters started pelting stones at the trains parked across all 10 platforms as soon as they entered the station in the morning and set ablaze the luggage van of the Howrah-bound East Coast Express, railway officials said. Later, bogeys of Falaknuma Express and Rajkot Express and eight locomotives at the station were set on fire. Protesters also threw stalls and bikes on the tracks to disrupt train movement. Thousands of passengers ran from the station, some of them leaving their belongings behind.

Youths set fire to four bogeys even before RPF could mobilise its men. Damodara Rakesh, who was shot in the waist, died while being shifted to Gandhi Hospital. Another youth, who sustained bullet injury in the chest, is battling for life. Protesters alleged that railway police fired at them without a warning.

In Bihar, where youths poured onto railway tracks and streets from morning, several bogeys of at least six trains were set on fire at Lakhisarai, Fatuha, Islampur, Danapur and Kulharia. Besides, window panes of several other trains were damaged in stone-pelting in Ara, Buxar and Khagaria. In Lakhisarai, a 40-year-old man who fell unconscious in a bogey of Janseva Express after it was set afire, died during treatment.