New Delhi/Kolkata: People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), a group backed by the Naxals, sabotaged the railway line which led to the derailment of the Howrah-Kurla Lomanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express train in West Bengal killing at least 114 people and injuring over 200 others.
Bengal Police sources have told CNN-IBN that PCPA leaders Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato planned and executed the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations near Jhargram, about 150 km from Kolkata.
Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato with the help of some disgruntled PCPA cadres abducted a railway lineman Dayaram Mahato posted at Sardiha station from his house at about 9:30 PM on Thursday night after threatening him and his family. The PCPA leaders warned Mahato that his entire family would be killed if he did not accompany them and carried out their orders.
The PCPA leaders then forced Mahato to open pandrol clips, which fixes the track to the sleepers, at around 1 AM on Friday as they knew that Gyaneshwari Express would be passing the area in about 15-20 minutes. Mahato was chosen for the job as an experienced guy can remove the pandrol clips in just a few minutes where it would have taken almost an hour for inexperienced person to do the same.
Umakanto Mahato along with a few PCPA members remained at the site with the lineman while Bapi Mahato went to Sardiha station and blocked a goods train. He let the goods train go after getting go ahead from fellow cadres from the accident site. The goods train ploughed into some bogies of the derailed Gyaneshwari Express which led to more people being killed and injured.
However, West Bengal police sources claimed that the attack was not planned the by Maoist top leadership and the PCPA local leaders planned it on their own. They said that there has been divisions within party ranks recently.
Naxals have already denied their hand in the train attack. A Naxal spokesperson Akash said that they had no involvement in the attack and added that they would call a public court and punish the guilty.
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