By IANS,
New Delhi : A probe panel has confirmed that sabotage caused the May 28 mishap of the Gyaneshwari Express train that led to the deaths of 150 passengers and injuries to 157, the railway ministry said Thursday.
“The probe has revealed that the accident had occurred due to tampering of track, including removal of elastic rail clips and disturbance of cross level and alignment,” said the ministry, quoting from the statutory probe report.
“Accordingly, the cause of the accident is attributed to and classified as sabotage,” the ministry said.
The probe was conducted by Commissioner of Railway Safety S. Nayak of Kolkata-based South Eastern Circle of the Indian Railways.
To ensure impartiality in the probe, the commissioner of railway safety functioned under the ministry of civil aviation.
“The commissioner has sent his preliminary report to the central government,” said the railway ministry.
The 2102 Up Howrah-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal (Mumbai) Gyaneshwari Express had derailed between Khemsuli and Sardiha stations of Kharagpur-Tatanagar section of the South Eastern Railway May 28 at 1.17 a.m.
A goods train coming on a parallel track hit a few of the derailed coaches lying on it. This led to the deaths of 150 people, and 46 were grievously wounded, it said.