Two passengers of North-East origin from Bangalore were pushed to death from a moving Guwahati-bound train on Sunday.
The incident happened near the Jalpaiguri railway station in the northern part of West Bengal state, an Indian Railway official told Retuers.
Nine other passengers, who were also pushed off the train, were rushed to hospitals and are undergoing treatment for their injuries.
"Two persons died, four are critically wounded and five suffered minor injuries," the Indian Railways official said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
According to reports, one of the injured said that an unidentified mob pushed passengers out of the train but not before robbing the travellers of their belongings.
This incident is likely to raise new worries amid the growing concerns over the safety of North-East people, who have been fleeing major cities across India in large numbers fearing retaliatory attacks for violence against Muslims in Assam.
Many northeastern Indians have exited metropolises like Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai after a spate of rumors by text messages and on the Internet warned of possible attacks against their communities.
Last month, the indigenous Bodo tribe and Muslim communities in Assam were engaged in series of ethnic clashes, stoking tensions in different parts of the country. The recent communal attacks in the Assamese state, lead to deaths of 80 people and rendered around 400,000 homeless.
Ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, India's North-East is home to more than 200 ethnic and tribal groups. Their facial features make them stand out in other states and many migrants from the region are considered Chinese or Nepali.
On Sunday, Home Secretary RK Singh said that the threatening SMSes and the morphed images showing victims of violence circulated online mostly came from Pakistan.
Pakistan authorities have denied the allegations. However, Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday assured his Indian counterpart an investigation into the charges, if evidence were to be provided.
(With inputs from Reuters)
