The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is expected to take over the probe of two derailments — near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh — over fears that these could have been acts of terror, even as similar tragedies were averted in Jharkhand and West Bengal on Thursday evening.
Also read: Police detect ISI hand in Kanpur train accidents: 3 arrested people sent to police remand for 6 days
Tragedies averted
A major accident was averted in the Dhanbad division of East Central Railways on Thursday evening when the locomotive pilot of a passenger train detected missing fishplates in the tracks and stopped the train. Had the train not been stopped, it would have resulted in a major derailment.
Meanwhile, fittings missing from tracks were also noticed in the Malda Division of West Bengal, under Eastern Railways. These, too, were detected on time and were replaced, averting any untoward incident. However, traffic was affected for some time there.
Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena later said: "We had to stop the traffic for some hours [because of these incidents]. FIRs have been lodged with the Government Railway Police in both cases." He added that further investigation into the cases was underway.
NIA takes up Kanpur and Kuneru probes
The NIA has been handed the probes into the Kanpur and Kuneru derailments, following suspicion that they could be acts of terror. The tragedy near Kanpur, where the Indore-Patna Express derailed, claimed the lives of around 150 people. The tragedy near Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh led to the deaths of around 40 people.
It later emerged that the accident near Kanpur could have been orchestrated by Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The revelation came from three people who were arrested in connection with an unrelated matter. After their arrest, they had talked of working for an ISI agent who was a Nepalese citizen but based in Dubai.
