Indian Urban Legends - 1

Here's the start of what will hopefully be a continuing occasional series. What the series is about will become obvious so let me not try to explain.

So I've heard in the past of people being 'gassed' on Indian trains and robbed but was quite sceptical. Until it happened to someone we know. The person is (was) a colleague of Priya at the school that she teaches at, in Indiranagar. So this person (lets call her Smita), travelled to Delhi earlier this year to meet relatives. She took the Rajadhani Express. Things were normal and she was chatting with one of the co-travellers, another woman. That woman noticed that she had kept some jewellery in her handbag and suggested that she put it into her (ie. Smita's) suitcase for more safety. That Smita did as she thought it a sensible suggestion. But the next morning she awoke to find that her suitcase had vanished along with those of several co-travellers (and the aforementioned lady). People felt somewhat unwell which pointed to a gas having been used to keep them sleeping while the robbery was done. The passengers registered a complaint with the railway police and so on, but nothing came of it, the goods were not recovered.

Quite shocking to hear that this kind of stuff actually happens, and that too on the hi-profile Rajadhani Express. I always felt safe in trains earlier, didn't think that one had to guard against sophisticated theft like this.