Train derailment - accident or sabotage?

Northwestern Railways and police are trying to ascertain whether the derailment of Mandor Express near here was a case of sabotage as the mishap occurred hours after a phone call that a bomb was planted in the Jammu Tawi-bound Puja Express turned out to be a hoax.

Northwestern Railways and police are trying to ascertain whether the derailment of Mandor Express near here was a case of sabotage as the mishap occurred hours after a phone call that a bomb was planted in the Jammu Tawi-bound Puja Express turned out to be a hoax.

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The call was made at the Dausa railway station ten minutes before the departure of Puja Express from here and the information was passed on to Jaipur Railway Control Room that a bomb was planted in the train, an official of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said today.

Since the Mandor Express derailed between Jhir and Jatawat stations in Dausa section, railway authorities, GRP and the anti-terror squad of the state police are exploring the sabotage angle.

After extensive search and frisking passengers of Puja Express no suspicious or abandoned object was found by the bomb detection squad at the railway station here and also at Dausa station.

NWR GM R M Verma said the sabotage angle could be looked into by the railway security machinery, if required, "but there appears to be no prima facie sign of any sabotage".

"We will also examine whether there is any link between the hoax call and the train mishap," Garg said.

Based on the call details, the parents of the boy were interrogated and the boy confessed to making the call.