Miscreants pelt stones at Vande Bharat Express in Kerala’s Kannur; second such incident in state

PTI, May 8, 2023, 8:17 PM IST

Representative Image (Source: PTI)

Kannur: Unidentified miscreants allegedly targeted the recently launched Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express train on Monday, police said.

The incident came to light when railway officials noticed a scratch, allegedly due to the stone pelting, on one of its windowpanes when the train was passing through Valapattanam area in the district in north Kerala, police said.

The railway officials immediately alerted the police suspecting that the stone had been pelted on the train while it was passing through Valapattanam.

Police said that although it is not confirmed that the incident happened exactly at its Valapattanam limit, an investigation has been launched, and all measures have been taken to prevent such incidents.

Railway officials said, as per the information, the incident occurred when the train was passing between Valapattanam and Kannur Chirackal at 3.27 pm. The train was going to Thiruvananthapuram from Kasaragod.

This is the second such incident to occur in Kerala after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the state’s first Vande Bharat Express train from Thiruvananthapuram on April 25.

Last week, unidentified miscreants allegedly pelted stones at the train when it was passing through an area between Thirunavaya and Tirur in Malappuram district.