Rajdhani Express accident: Home ministry rules out sabotage angle

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry has prima facie ruled out a sabotage angle to the train mishap involving Delhi-DibrugarhRajdhani Express at Chhapra, with a senior ministry official insisting that it appeared to be a plain case of derailment.

However, the goods train accident at Motihari could be a handiwork of Left-wing extremists, triggered to mark a bandh called by a local unit of Maoists, according to the official.

The assessment ruling out an extremist angle to the Rajdhani derailment is based on report from the local police and railway officials on the spot.

Union home minster Rajnath Singh on Wednesday morning confirmed that he had spoken directly to rail and other officials on spot, who conveyed that their was no evidence of a possible blast at the accident site.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been informed regarding all developments. Even he agrees it's too early to blame Naxalites. Let us wait for further report on the incident," said Singh.

However, he indicated that the Motihari incident looked like a handiwork of Naxalites.

It is not unusual for Maoists to block rail tracks or intercept trains to enforce their bandh calls. However, Naxalites are rarely known to carry out violent attacks on passenger trains. A 2009 train hijack by Maoists at Latehar did not see them harming its passengers and the train was subsequently released with all those on board safe. In fact, Maoists are more likely to target goods trains, as it rules out any civilian casualties.

An intelligence official also pointed out that Left wing extremists do not have a significant presence in and around Chhapra and are confined mostly to the Bihar districts of Jamui, Aurangabad and Gaya.