Vadodara: The railway police on Friday filed a 2,200-page chargesheet against a six-member gang arrested under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GujCTOC) Act. Police said the Signal Faliya gang, involved in 31 offences on railway properties, was arrested last year and investigators have gathered substantial evidence against them.Apart from CCTV footage, the chargesheet includes the statements of 102 witnesses and detailed accounts of the offences allegedly committed by the accused — Hassan Sheikh, Hussain Sheikh, Sultan Khalpa, Fardeen Makarani, Yaseen Sheikh and Imran Khalpa — all residents of Godhra taluka. The chargesheet was submitted before the GujCTOC court.According to the police, the cases include theft, loot, assault on government officials, criminal intimidation, and smuggling of beef and liquor. Most of the gang’s activities were centred around Godhra.Investigators said the gang had developed a method to slow down trains by tampering with pressure cocks, which activate the automatic vacuum brake system. Once the train slowed, members would enter the coaches and steal passengers’ valuables. They are also accused of stealing railway fishplates from tracks and tampering with railway signals to force trains to slow down, enabling them to snatch valuables from passengers.
