The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday dispatched a two-member team of NIA to Bihar to investigate the claims of three arrested persons to the State police that the derailment of Indore-Patna Express train was carried out at the behest of Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI. The Home Ministry has also sought reports from the Bihar Government and central security agencies regarding the arrest of Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar and Mukesh Yadav and their disclosures to the Bihar Police.
Sources said the role of ISI will be probed by the NIA, which will also find out whether there was a larger conspiracy involving ISI agents based in Nepal and Dubai. Central intelligence agencies are now questioning the three accused. If the claim of the three accused turns out to be true, it would be the first such case of train derailment in India carried out at the behest of ISI, the sources said. A report is also being sought from RAW about ISI activities in Nepal and India. The three persons arrested in East Champaran district in Bihar on Tuesday had told police that they were paid Rs3 lakh to plant explosives at Ghorasahan in the district on October 1, 2016.
A report is said to have come from Nepal confirming the Bihar Police’s claim that ISI had paid Rs30 lakh to its agent Brajesh Giri for triggering blasts on rail tracks, the sources said. Central security agencies were now looking for two more persons identified as Gajendra Sharma and Rakesh Yadav in East Champaran area for their suspected links with the accused.