According to delayed reports reaching here, the passengers were going to Kushalgarh in Rajasthan when their private jeep had to halt around midnight because the gate at the railway crossing was shut to allow a train to pass.

Panchmahals district police say that 15 to 20 adivasi youths wearing dhotis and banians and wielding `dharia' and sticks, who were hiding in the nearby bushes, reportedly surrounded the jeep from all sides and assaulted the jeep's occupants. They relieved the injured women passengers of their ornaments and looted cash from jeep driver Kamlesh Sohanlal Jain.

Jain, who was also injured, drove to Asayadi Hotel, about a kilometer away, after the incident. Hotel employees took them to a privately-run hospital at Piplod and also informed the Panchmahals Police Control Room. A night police patrol party immediately reached the spot and found ladies purses and `shriphal' thrown near the loot site. No arrests have been made as yet where the loot occurred.

A case has been registered in the Morwa police station in this connection. However, no clue has yet been found of the culprits. Meanwhile, the victims have been shifted to a private hospital in Dahod.