We often hear of people owning cars, buses, or jets, but a train? A farmer from Punjab reportedly ended up as the “owner” of a train due to a surprising Indian Railways blunder. Here’s what actually happened in this bizarre case.
Sampuran Singh, a farmer from Katana village in Punjab's Ludhiana district, became the owner of the famous Swarna Shatabdi Express. In India, we all know trains are government property. But for the first time, a train went into the hands of a farmer. This surprising incident happened in 2007. The Railway department acquired Sampuran Singh's land for the Ludhiana-Chandigarh railway line. They gave him a compensation of about Rs 25 lakh per acre. However, Singh found out that other farmers in the same area received up to Rs 71 lakh per acre. Feeling cheated, he decided to take the matter to court.
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The court seized the train
After hearing the case, the court agreed with Sampuran Singh's argument. It significantly increased his compensation, ordering the Railways to pay him about Rs 1.47 crore per acre. But the Railway department failed to pay the full amount. They paid a small portion and held back the rest. So, the farmer went back to court. This time, the court gave a sensational verdict. It ordered the seizure of the Swarna Shatabdi Express until the Railways paid the dues. This meant the train now belonged to Sampuran Singh! The court also attached the Ludhiana railway station master's office to the seizure, putting it in the farmer's hands too.
Sampuran Singh took the court order and went to the Ludhiana railway station with his lawyer. He handed over the court's papers to the officials and became the train's legal owner. Until the Railways paid him back, he had the right to keep the train stationary. However, the train was already full of passengers. Thinking about their inconvenience, the farmer stopped the train for only a few hours. After a discussion with railway officials, he allowed the train to leave. The incident created a huge stir across the country at the time.
After this incident, the Railway department paid some more money to Sampuran Singh. Finally, in May 2017, the court lifted the seizure order on the Swarna Shatabdi Express. Technically, until that day, Sampuran Singh was still the train's owner. In 2017, the train officially went back under the full control of the Railways. This episode remains a rare chapter in Indian Railways' history. The case proved how seriously the court can act if farmers' issues are ignored. Sampuran Singh is still remembered as the only man in India to have ever owned a train.
