Angry passengers held up the Jodhpur-Bangaluru Express at Miraj, near here, Friday following a daytime robbery in a crowded compartment.

Eye witnesses said five robbers, armed with knives and country-made pistols, entered the train around 10 a.m. somewhere between Pune and Karad stations. They looted a few passengers of their ornaments, cash and ATM cards.

Some passengers caught the robbers but they managed to fight them off and escape.

Irate passengers held up the train to protest the railway officials' alleged failure to check frequent thefts on the Pune-Miraj section of the route.

"While the earlier incidents of robbery have occurred at night, due to the ineptitude of the railway police the robbers were emboldened to strike during daytime," a passenger said.