A low-intensity bomb was recovered from the Kolkata-Amritsar Akal Takht Superfast train at a station of Amethi district Thursday. A letter threatening to avenge the death of laskar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana was also recovered after which an alert was sounded.
The train was detained at Akbarganj station (Amethi) for more than six hours after the explosive was detected inside a toilet of AC-3 tier coach (B-3) in a vessel wrapped in a polythene bag around 1am on Thursday. Sleuths of Anti-Terrorist Squad(ATS) backed by other security personnel started their investigation though police officials said that the explosive was crude in nature. A case in this regard was registered at GRP police station at Charbagh (lucknow).
As per reports, security personnel vacated panicky passengers from two AC coaches before defusing the explosive and checked the entire train. After examining the contents of the packet, some explosive was detected. A bomb disposal squad was immediately rushed to defuse it.
later the police said that it did not look like a sophisticated explosive device. The explsoive was filled in a bottle with a wire outside but no detonator or battery circuit was found. SP (GRP) Saumitra Yadav said that the low intensity device was deactivated after being found and the train left for its destination.
Besides, a letter was recovered which warned of retaliatory strikes to avenge the killing of top lashkar-e-Taiba (leT) militant Abu Dujana in an encounter in Kashmir on August 1. It said : ‘Dujana ki maut ka anjam Hindustan ko bhugatna padega - Indian Mujahdeen’. The incident comes days ahead of the country’s 70th Independence Day and raises an alarm for security agencies which are trying their best to prevent any kind of eventuality.
DM of Amethi, Yogesh Kumar said that the threat letter was written by a person on an old paper and in blue ink. He further said it was being probed as to how the explosive was put on the train. The last stoppage of the train was at Varanasi.
PRO of Indian Railways, Neeraj Sharma claimed that the train proceeded on it’s onward journey at 7:30 am and security personnel and Railways were investigating the matter. Meanwhile, in another subversive act, miscreants removed the clip of a railway track between Visratganj and Ramganga railway stations in Bareilly on Thursday morning. luckily, the mischief was noticed on time and trains were diverted and clippings were put back. Surprisingly 77 clips, all removed from the railway track on a 2 kilometre route were also found abandoned at some distance pointing that the act was not done for theft but for subversion. A case was registered in this regard and investigations are on.