Probe in Botad rail ‘sabotage’ hits snag, rain among key challenges for officers
While the incident took place between 2 am and 3 am, Botad Police reached the spot at about 7:30 am. Meanwhile, rain lashed the site of the incident, hampering the probe.
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This was the second rail sabotage attempt in Gujarat in four days. Faced with challenges such a remote location, sparse human settlements and the lack of CCTV cameras, the investigation into the suspected railway sabotage in Botad hit another snag on Thursday due to rain on the day of the incident.
The incident took place at 2:58 am on Wednesday, said officials. The Botad Police, Government Railway Police, the Railway Protection Force had rushed to the spot where passenger train number 19210 Okha-Bhavnagar Express had hit a 4-feet long part of gauge railway track erected right in the middle of rail tracks, two km from Kundli station in Ranpur taluka of Botad. The piece of old metre gauge track (rail), often used to demarcate the railway’s area boundaries in rural areas, hit the engine of the train on Wednesday, leading to a loss of pressure. The loco was ultimately declared a failure, according to a statement from the Western Railway. An FIR was filed at Ranpur police station in Botad.
While the incident took place between 2 am and 3 am, Botad Police reached the spot at about 7:30 am. Meanwhile, rain lashed the site of the incident, hampering the probe.
Botad Superintendent of Police Kishor Baloliya said that they first attempted to search for the source of the piece of track that had been used in the incident by the unknown saboteur(s). However, even as police teams were deployed in both directions of railway track, with the investigators hoping to find the origin of the piece of track and then attempt to trace the route of the anonymous accused, rain had washed out the ground.
When asked about the origin of the piece of metre gauge track, on the day of the incident, Mashooque Ahmad, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Bhavnagar division of Western Railway (WR), said that they had launched a drive to consolidate all such scrap metal and auction it off but that they too did not know the source of the metal that had been used in the sabotage. This was not the only hurdle caused by the monsoon, which has entered the withdrawal stage amid a delay. Police earlier used a dog squad with sniffer dogs to trace stolen property and drugs on the railway.
However, the attempt ended in failure. SP Baloliya said, “We attempted using dogs to trace the accused but the rain led to a severe limitation. Further probe is underway through human intelligence.”
This was the second rail sabotage attempt in Gujarat in four days.
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