The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has nabbed two suspects who were on the run to Bihar after committing a robbery in Salem, finally apprehending them at the busy Chennai Central railway station.In Jalakandapuram, a town located 35 kilometres from Salem, a quarrel broke out at around 11.15 p.m. on Sunday (August 24, 2025) between Parthiban, 45, a supervisor, and Samir Kumar, 19, a migrant worker from Bihar, at a chicken shop. Samir allegedly attacked Parthiban with an iron rod. According to the police, Parthiban collapsed in a pool of blood, after which Samir looted cash from Parthiban’s pocket and ₹2 lakh from the shop by breaking open the lock. He then fled the scene with his relative Mukesh, 30, who worked at a nearby shop.At around 2 p.m., Parthiban regained consciousness and raised an alarm. Locals who came to his aid took him to a private hospital in Erode and alerted the Jalakandapuram police. Police personnel visited the crime scene and immediately informed the Government Railway Police and the RPF at Salem Junction, suspecting that the duo were heading to Chennai by train en route to Bihar. By the time police arrived at Salem Junction, the two suspects had already boarded a train and fled. However, it was unclear which train they had taken.The RPF personnel at Salem Junction, in turn, alerted their counterparts at the RPF unit in Chennai Central railway station. Madhusudan Reddy, Inspector, RPF, Chennai Central, said, “We quickly collected photographs of the suspects and circulated them among our personnel on duty at the platforms. We deduced that the suspects might have boarded one of three express trains that passed through Salem Junction between 2 p.m. and 2.30 p.m.”Finally, Sub-Inspector K.M. Praveena and another staff member checked the front general coaches of Train No. 20602 (Bodinayakanur-Chennai Central Express) at Platform No. 7 at Chennai Central at around 7.55 a.m. and detained two suspects. However, when questioned, both suspects fled. RPF personnel chase the duo, and one of them, stationed at the baggage scanner near the entrance, managed to catch one suspect. The other suspect escaped by jumping into a moving bus at the bay opposite the railway station.The RPF personnel then got into an auto-rickshaw and followed the bus. After the bus took a turn past the Southern Railway Headquarters, the officers overtook it and showed their credentials to the crew. The suspect was brought down but attempted to escape again. During the chase, Lalit Kumar, an RPF constable, sustained minor injuries to his right elbow and was given first aid at Apollo Emergency Care at Chennai Central station.Both the accused, Samir Kumar, 18, and Mukesh Mukhya, 30, of Purnia village, Madhubani, Bihar, were handed over to Government Railway Police at Chennai Central.Published - August 26, 2025 01:05 pm IST