Bengal: Vande Bharat Express stone-throwers identified
A glass door of the train was damaged when the train was passing through the Malda district on Monday while two windows were hit when it was approaching New Jalpaiguri station on Tuesday
Railway authorities on Thursday said they have identified the first set of people, who threw stones at the Vande Bharat Express in West Bengal New Jalpaiguri, after scanning footage and photographs from cameras fitted on the train.
Unidentified people threw stones at the train on Monday and Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Bengal’s first Vande Bharat Express from Howrah to New Jalpaiguri on December 30. The train began its regular service on January 1.
A glass door of the train was damaged when the train was passing through Malda district on Monday. On Tuesday, two window glasses were damaged when it was approaching New Jalpaiguri station, its destination in North Bengal.
“Based on the video footage and photographs taken by CCTV camera fitted with the Howrah-NJP [New Jalpaiguri] Vande Bharat train rake, the railway already identified stone pelters in the video. Initiatives have been taken to pinpoint the pelters and suitable action is being taken for conducting legal and penal proceedings against the offenders,” the railways said in a statement.
Railway authorities earlier lodged two separate complaints even though no passengers were injured. “Efforts are on to identify the miscreants in the first incident also. We are in constant touch with the state police,” said a railway official.
On December 30, Modi led the last rites of his mother, who died early morning that day and returned to work hours later, flagging off the key train link in West Bengal and chairing a meeting of the National Ganga Council via video conference.
The stone-throwing triggered a blame game between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a tweet after stones were thrown on Monday, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikary called it sickening and wondered whether it was revenge for Jai Shree Ram slogans chants on the inaugural day. He urged the Centre to hand over the probe into it to the federal anti-terror agency and punish the perpetrators.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee refused to sit on the dais after BJP supporters raised Jai Shree Ram slogans during the flagging-off ceremony at Howrah station.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh sought a proper investigation while condemning stone throwing. “But this may be a conspiracy to create [a] negative campaign against Bengal. First throw stones, then make statements, then start dirty politics; a well-planned script,” tweeted Ghosh in response to Adhikary.