Low-grade blast in Kalindi Express sparks panic

KANPUR/LUCKNOW: A low-intensity blast in the toilet of a general coach of Kanpur-Bhiwani Kalindi Express at Barrajpur station, about 35 km away from Kanpur Central, on Wednesday evening sparked panic among the passengers on board. There were no casualties, however, and none of the passengers were reported to be injured.


A letter carrying the name of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), involved in the Pulwama terror attack, was found from the spot but police said that it appears to be a case of mischief.

A team of

Anti-Terrorist Squad

(ATS) officials was rushed to the site from Lucknow for conducting probe.

Blast minutes after train reached

Reports said at around 7.10pm, passengers in the general coach of the train, which originated from

Kanpur Central railway station

, heard an explosion in the toilet minutes after the train reached Barrajpur station on the outskirts of Kanpur. The blast led to panic as passengers scrambled to get off the train. As personnel from government railway police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) rushed to the site, the train was evacuated and senior officials were informed.

The blast was of low intensity, yet the ripped apart the sunmica sheets and plywood fitted in the toilet. Security personnel spent the next two hours sanitising the train with the help of sniffer dogs, bomb disposal squads and anti-sabotage teams that were rushed to the spot.

Police recovered a half-full sack near the toilet besides a threat letter from a polythene bag. Police officials said though a letter carrying name of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has been found, it appears to be a case of mischief.

“Prima facie details collected by team of forensic experts suggest that the blast was caused by explosives and appears to be an act of mischief,” said SSP Kanpur Anant Deo. He confirmed that a letter was recovered from the scene in which name of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was mentioned.

“The letter talks of the terror outfit but the content also talks in detail about the destruction the perpetrators plan to unleash. So we are not taking any chances and have roped ATS and STF to carry out further probe in this regard,” he said.

Giving details of the sequence of events that followed he said that train number 14723 left Kanpur Central at 5.57pm around half an hour behind the schedule time of 5.25pm. It had barely covered a distance of 35 km when the blast of low intensity occurred in the toilet of the second last coach from rear side of the train causing panic among passengers, he said.

“The train runs between Kanpur and Bhiwani daily. The incident occurred when it was heading towards Bhiwani from Kanpur,” he added.