Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: The train derailment in Kanpur on November 21, in which 150 passengers were killed, might have been planned and funded by anti-India elements based in Dubai, according to a sensational disclosure by police in Bihar’s East Champaran district on Tuesday.

The arrest of three criminals linked to the planting of a bomb on the rail tracks in Bihar’s Raxaul district on October 1 has allowed police in East Champaran district a glimpse into a network of anti-India elements with likely links with Pakistan’s ISI paying money to criminals in India to carry out blasts and sabotage action on rail tracks in the country.

“The recovery of an improvised explosive device on on Raxaul-Sitamarhi route near Ghorasahan railway station on October 1, which disrupted train services for more than 12 hours, was funded by a Dubai-based trader from Nepal named Shamshul Hoda,” said East Champaran SP Jitendra Rana. “There is a possibility that the derailment of Indore-Patna Express and the Shealdah-Ajmer Express were also carried out by these people. Efforts are on to find out more details from the ongoing interrogation,” he added.

Moti Paswan, a criminal who is the main accused in the Ghorasahan case, and two others who were arrested have reportedly confessed to police that they were paid a “big amount” by Hoda to carry out blasts on rail tracks in north India. Police stumbled on the racket while investigating the murder of two Raxaul residents in Nepal.

“Three people arrested in Nepal – Brijkishore Giri, Muzahid Ansari and Shambhu – and two other men were active in this group. Giri, the kingpin, had paid money to these people to carry out blasts on rail tracks near Ghorasahan. Umashankar Patel, Mukesh Yadav and Moti Paswan, who have been arrested, had received the money and given the bomb planting task to two other men,” said Rana.

After police detected and recovered the powerful IED and averted a major accident, the two men were punished for their failure. “They were taken to Nepal and brutally killed in a jungle there. Investigation into these two murders unravelled the sinister network,” said Rana.

Police are taking help of ATS and intelligence agencies to explore the entire extent of this network. “The involvement of some agencies from across the border has been detected. Further probe will expose the exact role of these agencies and the likelihood that they were behind the Kanpur derailment,” said Rana.