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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Terror, Naxal angle being probed in train mishaps
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Terror, Naxal angle being probed in train mishaps

Growing suspicion about role of sabotage in rail accidents over the last two months

A possible terror link is being probed in the incident, police and NIA officials are not ruling out the involvement of Naxals either. Photo: MintPremium
A possible terror link is being probed in the incident, police and NIA officials are not ruling out the involvement of Naxals either. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Another rail tragedy was averted on Tuesday night. The Madgaon-Dadar Janshatabdi escaped derailment after the engine driver managed to bring the train to a halt just short of a 380kg iron pillar lying across the tracks. The train was carrying 650 passengers.

The latest incident lends credence to official claims of terrorist sabotage behind some of the recent accidents—in the last two months there have been four major rail accidents.

While the incident has put the railways on edge, a case has been registered under Section 150-A of the Indian Railways Act. Senior railway officials, on condition of anonymity, said “The assistant pilot showed great presence of mind and applied the brakes on time. The obstacle was placed with the intention of causing a loss of lives and great damage. We are probing the matter."

Avoiding what would otherwise have been the second big rail tragedy this week, following the derailment of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneshwar Hirakhand Express near Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district that killed 41 people, officials are exploring the possibility of the involvement of terrorists.

“National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams from Delhi and Hyderabad had reached the accident spot to probe the matter. We are investigating the involvement of outside elements that may have been responsible for executing the derailment plan," said an NIA spokesperson, at the agency’s headquarters in Mumbai.

ALSO READ | Jan Shatabdi mishap near Mumbai averted by alert locomotive pilots

While a possible terror link is being probed in the incident, police and NIA officials are not ruling out the involvement of Naxals either—especially since the Odisha-Andhra border is a Naxal stronghold.

Taking no chances, the ministry of home affairs has also handed over the Ghorasahan probe to the NIA. In October, last year, an improvised explosive device (IED) was found and diffused on the rail track in Ghorasahan in East Champaran district of Bihar .

Earlier this month, the Bihar Police arrested three youth with suspected Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) links. During the investigation, the youth claimed that they had been “paid Rs3 lakh" for planting the IED on the tracks. However, investigations revealed that one of them had travelled to Kanpur last year and orchestrated the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express near Kanpur in November, which killed nearly 150 people.

ALSO READ | Railways detects two more attempts to derail trains: officials

“In 45 cases of derailment this year, the sabotage angle cannot be ruled out. Outside interference was found in some cases near Kanpur, Mumbai, and Hajipur where fish plates were removed and a large rail piece placed on the track," railway board member (Traffic), Mohd. Jamshed, said in Delhi.

Jamshed added these incidents were being probed by the railway safety commissioner along with other investigative agencies. He said there would be additional security deployment to ensure the tracks are not tampered with.

“Gangmen (employees who check the fitness of railway tracks) and RPF personnel will now jointly carry out night patrolling operations. Railway officials have also been asked to be present in each train to examine and ensure safety of passengers and train movement," Jamshed added.

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Published: 26 Jan 2017, 11:49 PM IST
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