Armed men entered the Jammu-Delhi Duronto Express on Thursday and allegedly robbed several passengers at knifepoint on the outskirts of Delhi, PTI reported. Authorities were alerted about the incident only after a passenger lodged a complaint with the railways’ complaints portal.

Passenger Ashwani Kumar claimed that around seven to 10 robbers had accosted passengers on board the B3 and B7 coaches of the train while it was waiting at a railway crossing near the Delhi Sarai Rohilla station at 3.30 am. In his complaint, Kumar said the accused asked them to handover wallets, purses, jewellery, cash and cellphones.

Kumar complained about the lack of security on board the train. “The irony is that neither staff nor security personnel were available there at the time,” the passenger said while adding that it took the passengers 20 minutes, after the accused had decamped, to find a train attendant or travelling ticket examiner.

“The Railway Protection Force has initial leads in the matter, a spokesperson said. “The culprits will be nabbed soon and stern action will be taken against them.”