Retired Army man ‘planted explosives’ on railway tracks in Gujarat, alerted police to ‘become hero’, arrested
The retired Army man is said to have procured firecrackers from a recent wedding that took place near his village.
The Vadodara city police said the accused confessed to laying the firecrackers on the tracks. (Representative Image) A day after ‘firecrackers’ were seized from the railway tracks of the Dedicated Freight Corridor near Angadh, the Vadodara city police Monday arrested the railway employee who had alerted the police about the presence of ‘explosives’ on the tracks.
The police claimed a retired Army jawan from Jammu and Kashmir, employed on a three-year contract by the railway police to keep vigil on the tracks, had allegedly planted the ‘cold pyro’ with the motive of being recognised as a ‘hero’ that would help him in getting an extension of contract.
The police said the accused, Mushtaq Ahmed Mohammad Shaikh, 47, confessed to having laid the firecrackers on the tracks during a detailed questioning.
“A thorough investigation was carried out, and during questioning of Mushtaq Ahmed Shaikh, we found his narrative suspicious. On the… local police questioning him in detail, he confessed that he was anxious about his contract with the railway police expiring this year… He said he was aware that employees who performed their duties with alacrity were often rewarded or given extensions in the railways. Therefore, in order to seek an extension of his contract, he wanted to show himself in a good light… He planned this act to earn brownie points,” Dr Jagdish Chavda, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone 1, said.
A native of Jammu and Kashmir, Shaikh had been taken on contract in the railway police from 2024 for patrolling the railway tracks. He lived in Sherkhi village and had procured the firecrackers from a recent wedding that took place near his village. The Vadodara city police said that the Forensic Science Laboratory report on the detailed investigation into the firecrackers is awaited.
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