New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS): Brandishing knives at passengers, five armed men forced their entry into two Jammu-Delhi Duronto Express coaches early on Thursday and fled with their cash and gold within minutes in the absence of security, railway officials said.

The incident occurred near the Badli area of outer Delhi during an unscheduled stop made just after the train entered the national capital, a passenger said.

Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said the signal system was tampered with as the train came to a sudden halt near Badli in outer Delhi, adding the armed men managed to enter the B3 coach and looted two passengers.

He said General Railway Police (GRP) was recording statements of the passenegers who were robbed, adding it would also take the statement of the TTE and other staff present in the train.

Those robbed in the train were identified as Ashok Kumar and Basant Bhandari, both residents of Jammu.

The NR spokesperson said the train was not escorted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff. "The GRP is working with the passengers to get the sketch of suspects," Deepak Kumar said. He said that the railways has lodged a case against unknown persons under several sections of Indian Penal Code.

The robbery came to light after Ashwani Kumar, who was travelling from Jammu to Delhi, lodged a complaint through the railways' complaints portal.

"Today at 3.30 a.m, the train stopped somewhere due to (a) signal problem. Some five unidentified culprits entered coaches B3 and B7. They put their knife on the neck of other passengers and asked them to provide whatever expensive items they were carrying.

"They took their purses, cash, carry bags, gold chain and other things. It was all over within 10-15 minutes," said Ashwani Kumar in his complaint.

"The irony was that neither the staff nor security personnel were available at the time of the incident."

"The RPF has some initial leads in the case... We will be able to catch the culprits soon," Deepak Kumar said.