At a time when the sabotage angle in the latest Rajya Rani Express accident is also being looked into, an SMS received by authorities about more trains to be targeted in future has rung the alarm bells for the Railways and the security establishment.
The SMS sent to a railway official of Shahjahanpur station near lucknow division threatened that the Rajya Rani Express derailment will be followed by more major accidents by blowing up of tracks and even trains. The authorities shared the details with the Uttar Pradesh Police and the source of the SMS is being ascertained. Sources said the SMS does not bear a mobile number and has been sent through computer directly.
Early this year, the Bihar Police had arrested three suspected ISI agents in connection with the November 20, 2016, Indore-Patna Express mishap that claimed 150 lives besides other train accidents.
In case of Rajya Rani Express, preliminary report has suggested that a three-feet portion of the track was missing. “Sabotage cannot be ruled out,” said Rampur SP KK Chaudhri.
The arrests by the Bihar Police had provided some “positive lead” about the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Kanpur during questioning of the accused. Central agencies like NIA and RAW besides Railway Police and the UP and Bihar ATS had interrogated the accused and extracted details from the accused Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav to ascertain ISI role in triggering train mishaps in India.
They had revealed that they were paid Rs3 lakh by a Nepalese Brajesh Giri, who allegedly had connections with Dubai-based Shamsul Hoda who had links with the ISI. The money was paid to them to plant a bomb on the railway tracks at Ghorasan in East Champaran district, bordering Nepal, on October 1 last year. Ever since then, efforts are on to arrest two others identified as Gajendra Sharma and Rakesh Yadav, who are “hiding” somewhere in Champaran.