Gujarat: Two held for attempting to derail train for robbing passengers

PTI, Oct 1, 2024, 7:01 PM IST

Two persons were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly placing an iron rail piece on a railway track in an attempt to derail a train for robbing passengers in Gujarat’s Botad district, police said.

The accused, Ramesh Salia and Jayesh Bavalia, allegedly placed a four to five-foot-long iron rail piece vertically on the track near Kundli village on September 25, an official said.

The duo allegedly planned to derail coaches and rob passengers as they were facing financial difficulties, he said.

Botad is around 150 km from Ahmedabad.

As per a release issued by the Botad district police, the accused watched YouTube videos about ways to derail trains before committing the crime.

The engine of the Okha-Bhavnagar passenger train came to a halt after hitting the iron rail piece in the wee hours of September 25. The accused, who are farm labourers, were lying in wait in a cotton field nearby, they said.

However, when their plan failed, they fled on their two-wheeler, police said.

Considering the serious nature of the crime, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) were called in for the probe with the local police teams, police said.

The police used technical surveillance and human intelligence to zero in on the two men, who went into hiding, they said.

The duo were subsequently apprehended and interrogated, police said.

The men were booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Railways Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the release said.

The incident came a few days after three railway employees were arrested in Surat district for alleged track tampering and alerting authorities about a “sabotage attempt” to take credit for averting a possible tragedy.