They looted passengers of Rs 1.25 lakh in cash, a draft worth Rs 1 lakh, jewellery and watches.

Major V. S.Rathore travelling in the same coach put up a fight, managed to injure one of the miscreants and caught another, while the others managed to flee. According to railway sources, eight robbers broke into a signal station at Block Hut `P' situated between Tundla and Sikohabad. ``It was 2 a.m. when the robbers forced their way in. Two signalmen on duty -- Raghubir Singh and Om Prakash -- were overpowered and tied up together. The robbers then changed the signal to red to stop the train,'' a senior-level railway source said.

They entered second AC coach no: A1 from the vestibule and looted the passengers. The robbers reportedly came armed with desi katta and knives. Eyewitnesses say the passengers were sleeping when the robbers came in and threatened them with guns and knives.

Five men from the Army Air Defence College Major Rathore, Major Gurvinder Sahato, Major A. Dutta, Major B.S. Siddhu and Captain Neeraj Sharma were also travelling in the same coach.

Eyewitnesses said one of the robbers approached Major Rathore, pointed a knife at him and told him give them everything he had. The Major took out about Rs 500 and handed it over. The man looked unhappy and attacked the Major with his knife. Rathore fielded the blow and retaliated by firing a shot from his personal licence revolver, say eyewitnesses.

The other assailants heard the gunfire and started to run, but turned back to fire at the other officers. Major Rathore, however, managed to injure one. But the injured man managed to get out of the train and escape with help from the other bandits. One of the miscreants, Inderpal Singh was caught by the officers. When the train reached Khurja, the accused was handed over to the police around 4.40 a.m. The case is being handled by the Aligarh Police.

The robbery could have been averted, if the shutters of the vestibule had been closed. According to railway sources, officially, each AC coach (on this train, there were only two AC coaches) has one electrician and during the night, the vestibule is kept closed to ensure that no outsiders enter the AC coach.

But on that day the Purshottam Express had just one electrician on duty and he had kept the shutters of the vestibule open to serve both the coaches.