Guwahati, July 13 (IANS): Assamm Police have arrested two persons for their involvement in the rape and murder of two women on trains, officials said on Friday.
Bikash Das and Bipin Pandey were arrested from Dibrugarh district on Thursday night.
On Tuesday, the body of a 21-year-old female student of the Assam Agriculture University was found on a train at the Simaluguri railway station in Sivasagar district.
The second body was found the following day from the goods compartment of the Awadh Assam Express at the Mariani station in Jorhat district.
"First we arrested Bikash Das from Chiring Chapori area after seeing him on the CCTV footage of the Tinsukia railway station," a police officer said.
Das confessed to his involvement in the crime and gave leads about Pandey, who was arrested from a Bengaluru-bound train at the Dibrugarh station.
"According to the accused, the victims were first made unconscious, they were then raped and then murdered. Their bodies were dumped in the toilets of the trains," the officer added.
"Culprits of both the heinous crimes on running trains at Simaluguri and Mariani have been apprehended and incriminating evidence recovered. We are committed to ensuring justice for citizens and the rule of law," the Assam Police tweeted.
Das had confessed before the RPF that he along with Pandey had strangulated both their victims with a 'gamosa' (Assamese scarf) after raping them and dumping their body in the toilet of empty train coaches.
RPF and police officials told reporters here that Das was apprehended when a security man noticed him at the Tinsukia station with a 'gamosa', the kind of cloth he had used to strangulate both victims.
Earlier Das used to run a tea-stall near the Tinsukia station and at present was selling clothes in trains.
He confessed that he was about to take a train to Furkating station to commit a similar crime but he was apprehended before he could do so, they said.
Mobile phones belonging to both the victims, the student's earrings and her train ticket and one of the anklets of the elderly woman were recovered from Das, the officers said.
Das had taken advantage of coaches meant for physically challenged people, which are normally empty and often boarded by women.
