Suspect Arrested Days After 10 Detonators Found on Army Train Tracks in MP's Burhanpur

New Delhi: An individual has been arrested for planting a detonator on the tracks of a Army special train in Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh . According to sources, the accused, identified as Sabir, had planted 10 detonators on the railway track. An investigation is underway to find out whether this was a part of a bigger conspiracy. 

It is learnt that the arrested accused is a railway employee. Given the incident is related to Army, the investigation is being carried out by National Investigation Agency (NIA), Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Railway Ministry.  

The incident took place near the Sagphata railway station in MP when the Army's special train was en route Karnataka from Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, September 18. As the train crossed over the detonators, the train driver became alert due to an explosion and promptly halted the train. He then informed the station master. However, no one was injured in the incident.

This incident was latest in the series of planting objects on railways track in a bid to derail a train. Earlier, UP's Kanpur and Rajasthan 's Ajmer have also witnessed such incident.  During investigation it was revealed that the accused had a dispute with his senior officer regarding leave after which planted detonators on track. Probe is underway to find out now whether this is a mischief of the accused or a conspiracy.

Series of Train Derailment Bids in Last Few Days

Earlier on Sunday evening, iron rods were recovered from railway tracks in Punjab 's Bathinda, pointing towards another alleged derailment conspiracy. In the past two months, several incidents of suspected train derailment attempts have been reported across India.

Hours before Bathinda train derailment bid, an attempt to derail a train was made in Kanpur again. A conspiracy to overturn a train was hatched in Kanpur after a small gas cylinder was placed on the railway tracks near the Prempur railway station of Maharajpur at around 5.50am in the morning. The accident was averted after the alert loco pilot applied the emergency brakes in time.

Meanwhile, an attempted train derailment bid was foiled in Gujarat on Saturday after miscreants removed fish plates and keys from a railway track near Kim Railway Station in Surat. According to Western Railway's Vadodara Division, some unidentified individual removed the fish plates and keys from the UP line track and placed them back on the track, halting train movement. However, services were soon restored following the incident.

A major train accident was averted in the first week of September by an alert loco pilot as the Bhiwani-Prayagraj Kalindi Express was brought to a screeching halt after hitting an LPG cylinder placed on tracks. A bottle of petrol and matchboxes were also found at the site hinting at a sabotage bid following which local police lodged an FIR. A multi-agency probe, including by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Anti-Terrorist Squad of UP Police, was launched into the matter which officials suspected could have terror links.