A powdered substance, suspected to be low-intensity explosive was on Tuesday seized from the lavatory of a train at New Delhi Railway station.
Around 12.20 pm, a passenger on-board in the Jan Shatabdi Express which was to arrive from Una in Madhya Pradesh, raised an alarm over the substance suspected to be explosive, following which security agencies were informed, a senior official said.
Panic gripped at platform number 11 as the train arrived with passengers running helter skelter minutes before the train was to leave for Dehradun.
According to police, the caller, who had informed about the suspected material, said he had seen a group of three people who were frequently coming in and out of the train’s lavatory and the trio immediately got off as soon as he raised an alarm. The caller is under police custody and helping police make sketches of the trio.
Special Cell of the Delhi Police has been alerted about the incident. Police officials said the emergency call was made seven minutes before the schedule arrival time of the train at New Delhi Railway station and the rescue teams were already deployed at the platform to defuse the explosive.
According to police, the black polythene had powder along with metal nails and glass pieces. “The seized item has been sent to the forensic lab,” said a police official.
However, Northern Railways has denied any security lapse.
“Security in railways can only be ensured with the active involvement and participation of passengers, Railway staff and police. It is a sum total of all. In today’s incident, the passenger saw the suspected material and alerted police and the rescue team reached the spot and defused the material. The system was geared up,” said Arun Arora, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Delhi division of Northern Railway.
The three suspected people apparently got down at Sadar bazar railway station. Police have alerted the district police as well as other concerned authorities. No train operations were hit.