Pakistan's ISI may be behind Kanpur train mishap, claims Bihar Police; seeks probe by IB, RAW

Motihari: The role of ISI in the recent train disaster in Kanpur was being suspected after Bihar police on Tuesday arrested three people who they claimed were working for the Pakistani intelligence agency to target Indian railways.

The ISI link to the November 20 train disaster, in which 150 people were killed, was being suspected after the interrogation of the trio, police said.

During interrogation, the three arrested persons provided some "positive lead" about the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Kanpur, District Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana said.

Addressing a press conference, East Champaran Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana said that the arrested persons have confessed to having worked for a Nepalese contact supposedly linked to Pakistan's ISI to target the railways.

Rana told that the Motihari unit of the Bihar Police, which was investigating a terror-related incident, recently arrested one person who had made startling disclosures confirming that Kanpur train tragedy was actually an act of terror, sponsored by the ISI.

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Moti Paswan – the man in question – had revealed that he was paid by the ISI to plant bomb along the rail tracks to trigger derailment of train, he added.

Rana told reporters that based on the information provided by Moti Paswan, police later arrested Uma Shankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav from Adapur Police Station area of the district.

The three are "professional criminals" allegedly involved in more than a dozen criminal cases, he said.

During interrogation, police claimed that they have confessed to having been paid Rs three lakh by a Nepali citizen identified as Brajesh Giri allegedly connected with the ISI for planting a bomb on railway tracks at Ghorasahan in East Champaran district in October 1 last year to cause an accident.

"Fortunately, the bomb was detected with the help of villagers at Ghorasan and defused which prevented the sinister designs of the terror elements," Rana said.

While three persons were arrested from East Champaran district, three others have been nabbed at Tailaya in Nepal for targeting railways on behalf of suspected terror elements in this country, the SP added.

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Paswan had told interrogators that besides him, several others from Kanpur including Zubair and Zia-ul, who were nabbed from Delhi, were also involved in the Ajmer-Sealdah Express train derailment near Rura railway station in Kanpur dehat district last month.

Paswan had revealed that the ISI had hatched a conspiracy to blow the track at Ghorasahan Station for which its agent Brajesh Giri – the man who was later arrested from Nepal – had given Rs 3 lakh to Arun and Deepak Ram, both residents of Adapur in Bihar. 

Paswan further told that both Arun and Deepak Ram were later called to Nepal and murdered by Giri as ISI was upset with them for not triggering the IED device even after planted it on the track.

Their bodies were thrown in the river, he claimed.

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Based on its findings, the East Champaran Police intensified its probe and arrested Uma Shankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav and confirmed their links with ISI. 

Arrested persons were given more targets and a probe is underway to find their links with Kanpur train accident, said the East Champaran SP.

The Nepal Police had also confirmed to Bihar Police that Pakistan's ISI had paid Rs 30 lakh to its agent Brajesh Giri for triggering blasts on rail tracks targeting popular trains in Bihar.

Accused were paid to blow rail tracks at Ghorasahan. Their links in Nepal, Dubai and other places are being probed, SP Jitendra Rana added.

Efforts are on to arrest in this connection two others identified as Gajendra Sharma and Rakesh Yadav who are "hiding" in East Champaran area, he said.

All the accused have been interrogated by the Intelligence Bureau and the information extracted by them has been passed on to the RAW and military intelligence for further verification.

(With PTI inputs)