Preliminary findings rule out subversive act in Kanpur, says Railway Commission

The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) has not found any evidence of sabotage in the November 20 derailment of the Indore-Rajendranagar Express.

The Commission has identified ‘carriage and wagon defects’ as the prime reason for the accident, which resulted in the most number of casualties in a train accident in over a decade. Over 140 people died in the accident. The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the accident.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the possibility of sabotage in six train accidents, including the derailment of the Patna-bound Indore-Rajendranagar Express near Kanpur on November 20.

While the Bihar Police claimed to have arrested a few people who could have been linked to the possible sabotage of the Indore-Rajendranagar Express, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Javeed Ahmed told The Hindu earlier this week that there was no evidence on the ground to corroborate the sabotage charge.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (Eastern Circle) P.K. Acharya has submitted the preliminary report on the accident to Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety S. Nayak. The CRS is under the administrative control of the Civil Aviation Ministry.

“The report holds overaged coaches, carriage and wagon defects, and wheel alignment issues, as the primary reason behind the derailment. The report, however, does not suspect sabotage,” a CRS official said on condition of anonymity.

In his letter, Mr. Prabhu had told the Home Minister that the Bihar police had “unearthed a conspiracy to train some persons to tamper with the track to cause derailments and [their] possible involvement” in the Kanpur accident in November.

The Bihar police had arrested Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar and Mukesh Yadav for allegedly planting a powerful Improved Explosive Device (IED) on a track in Ghorasahan in East Champaran district on October 1.

The police said Paswan had revealed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence was involved in the Kanpur rail accident.