Rail track blown in Jharkhand’s Latehar, Maoists-link suspected
The railway track on the Tori-Latehar section in Dhanbad division was allegedly blown in a bomb blast on Friday midnight affecting rail traffic, officials said Friday morning
The railway track on the Tori-Latehar section in Dhanbad division was allegedly blown in a bomb blast on Friday midnight affecting rail traffic, officials said Friday morning.
The incident came hours ahead of Bharat Bandh called by the outlawed CPI (Maoists) on November 20 to protest the arrest of their top ideologue Prashant Bose and his wife and central committee member Sheela Marandi by Jharkhand Police last week.
“Rail tracks on both up and down line have been damaged in the alleged bomb blast at around 12.40 am. The matter is being investigated. Keeping passengers’ safety in mind, two passenger trains have been cancelled while a few others have been diverted,” said Rajesh Kumar, spokesperson, East Central Railway.
The official said a relief van has reached the spot from Barkakana and work is in progress to restore traffic at the earliest, he added.
Latehar superintendent of police Anjani Anjan said the incident seems to be of an IED blast. “Prima facie it looks like an IED blast. The damage is restricted to the rail tracks. The police are on high alert in wake of the Bandh call. We are investigating the case further,” he said.