NIA Finds Merit in Allegations of ISI Role in Train Mishaps

The agency has taken over the probe following an order from the Home Ministry, official sources said.

Image used for representational purposes. (Photo: ANI screengrab)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found merit in the Bihar Police’s allegations that the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI) had planned the recent mishaps involving passenger trains.

The Times of India reported that NIA feels that the ISI angle, in the Ghorasahan case, the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur and the Kuneru rail accident, must be probed further.

Also Read: Pakistan’s ISI Behind November Rail Accident in Kanpur: Reports

The daily reported that while being questioned by the NIA, the three arrested accused in Bihar have reiterated their claims of a sabotage angle in both, the failed blasting attempt on the Ghorasahan track and the Indore-Patna derailment in Kanpur.

The three claimed they worked for the ISI and reportedly confessed about its possible role in the derailment.

Also Read: Kanpur Rail Tragedy: 2 Questioned in Delhi Over ‘ISI Involvement’

Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar and Mukesh Yadav, arrested from East Champaran district of Bihar, had claimed they had received Rs 3 lakh to plant IEDs at Ghorasahan railway station on 1 October last year.

The agency has taken over the probe in these cases following an order from the Home Ministry, official sources said.

An NIA team has already conducted an inspection of the site in Vizianagaram near Kuneru where the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express went off the track to ascertain if it was an “act of terror” as the railway suspected sabotage.

At least 30 people were killed in the accident that occurred on Saturday.

Cases of man-made obstructions were discovered at Malda and Dhanbad divisions by alert railway staff in time, thereby averting major derailments, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

(With inputs from Times of India, PTI)