Why you must never accept food from strangers on a train!

The last thing this retired Navy officer travelling on a Mumbai-bound train remembers before he fell asleep, is sharing some food with his co-passengers - two Army men and an Air Force officer. He then woke up in a hospital, robbed of his money and his valuables. The 54-year-old was unconscious for nearly 24 hours and was found near railway tracks in Ghatkopar.

Pankaj Hazarika's co-passengers gave him Pepsi and chips, which he suspects sedated him. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

The accused had travelled some distance with him as co-passengers before robbing him.

According to Kurla GRP, Pankaj Chandra Hazarika, a retired non-commissioned officer of the Indian Navy from the Jorhat region in Guwahati, was found lying unconscious alongside the railway tracks between Ghatkopar and Vidyavihar railway stations on Saturday at 9 am. He was wearing only his undergarments.

Kurla GRP personnel rushed him to Rajawadi hospital's trauma centre. A few hours later Hazarika regained consciousness and his son Sumit in Guwahati was informed about his father.

In his statement to police, Hazarika said, on the evening of May 4, he boarded a Mumbai-bound train from Guwahati to go to the Kalyan office of Reliance Gas transportation, where he is presently employed. His
co-passengers, who claimed they were military and Air Force personnel, boarded the train from the same station.

RK Patil, Sub-Inspector at the Kurla GRP, said Hazarika told them, "At Mughalsarai, I, along with the three co-passengers, got down to buy some eatables. I bought three samosas and shared them and also consumed Pepsi and some chips that they had bought. Minutes after consuming the Pepsi and chips, I fell asleep and woke up in a Mumbai hospital."

Hazarika said that he could not remember what had happened as he was asleep throughout the journey. He suspects that the three co-passengers gave him eatables and the cold drink laced with sedatives and then robbed him of two bags, which had Rs 5,000, a new wrist watch and his cell phone, totally worth Rs 20,398.

Hazarika's son Sumit said, "My father's left hand is fractured and he received four stitches too. He has also bled profusely. From the nature of injuries sustained, I suspect that after robbing him, the accused must have pushed him out of the running train." He said that the bags contained his father's important original documents.

Police say
Patil said, "Hazarika doesn't remember how he got off the train. In his complaint, we have registered a case under Sections 328 (poisoning), 379 (theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are now transferring the case to the Mugalsarai Government Railway Police for further investigation."

Hazarika was discharged from the hospital on Monday and he and his son will return to Guwahati on Wednesday.