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Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express halted after hoax bomb tweet
Greater Noida: Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express had a bomb scare on Thursday evening after a man tweeted that there were five bombs planted on the train.
Greater Noida: Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express had a bomb scare on Thursday evening after a man tweeted that there were five bombs planted on the train.
The train was stopped at Dadri railway station for over three hours before it was allowed to continue its journey, officials said.
The train leaves New Delhi railway station at 4.10pm and arrives at Dibrugarh, in Assam, at 7am the next day.
The officials said the tweet was made by a Gwalior-based man at 4.12pm who claimed that “there are five bombs in the train 12424 going from New Delhi to Kanpur Central”. He had also tagged both Indian Railways and Union railway minister Piyush Goyal in the tweet.
Later, the man recanted his statement at 7.16pm and claimed that he had tweeted under stress as his brother’s train had been delayed by four hours.
The authorities didn’t take any chance and the train was stopped at Dadri railway station for over three hours during which time teams from the bomb squad and anti-terrorism squad inspected the whole train.
“As soon as the information came, the teams with sniffer dogs were alerted. The train remained at Dadri railway station while it was checked thoroughly. However, nothing questionable or explosive in nature was found on it. It was allowed to depart only after all security measures were taken,” deputy commissioner of police, zone 3, Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
The train departed from Dadri around 8pm during which time additional police force was deployed in the area, officials said.
A spokesperson for Northern Railway said, “The information was found to be false but no risks were taken and the train continued towards its destination after a thorough inspection.”
Police also said the person who tweeted has been put on surveillance.
“We will take necessary criminal action against him as soon as we receive a formal complaint from the railway officials,” the DCP said.
