The newly inaugurated Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat Express was pelted with stones near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. As per a report on PTI, a group of people pelted stones as they vented their anger days after the train mowed down a herd of goats. Three men have been arrested in this regard, police said. The windowpanes of the semi-high speed were cracked in the incident. "The windowpanes of two coaches of the Vande Bharat Express were partially damaged as it passed through Sohawal area of Raunahi police station area here around 9 am on Tuesday," Inspector of Railway Protection Force (RPF) Sonu Kumar Singh said.
Singh said the information about the incident was passed to Ayodhya Cantt RPF post. The train, however, continued its onward journey till Lucknow, he said. Speaking about the incident, SSP (Ayodhya) R K Nayyar noted, "It was found during investigation that on Sunday, a herd of goats belonging to one Nanhu Paswan were killed after being hit by the Vande Bharat train while they were grazing on the railway track. So, Paswan and his associates targeted the train."
"We have arrested Paswan and his sons Ajay and Vijay in this connection," he said. A lot of stone pelting related incidents on the Vande Bharat Express have been reported in the recent past, but most of them were without any cause. In this incident, the attack was revenge driven as the train mowed down goats of the accused people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the train connecting Gorakhpur and Lucknow on July 7, 2023 along with the Jodhpur-Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express, taking the total tally of Vande Bharat trains to 25 in India.
