Patna: Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested six snake charmers for allegedly collecting money from passengers by displaying snakes in the general coach of Amritsar-Purnia Court Janseva Express (14618) on Friday.ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Saraswati Chandra said the incident came to light after Sonepur RPF received a message through ‘RailMadad’ regarding the presence of snake charmers in the train and their activities of seeking money from passengers by showing them snakes. Taking the complaint seriously, RPF personnel coordinated an operation to apprehend them, he said.RPF sub-inspector Shamsher Kumar and assistant sub-inspector Vijay Kumar found the six snake charmers moving through the general coach and collecting money from passengers by displaying snakes.As soon as the train reached Dighwara under Sonepur division of ECR around 10.45 am, the RPF personnel arrested all six persons and deboarded them from the train for questioning. During questioning, they kept changing their statements about their identities and places of residence. They sometimes claimed to be from Lucknow or Himachal Pradesh, raising further doubts about their antecedents, CPRO said.“Carrying snakes on trains and using them to solicit money from passengers is not permitted. Apart from causing inconvenience and fear among passengers, such activity also raises issues relating to wildlife protection laws and railway passengers’ safety,” he said.Later, Sonepur RPF coordinated with environment, forest & climate change department to hand over the snakes to it.kumodverma@gmail.com
