3 railmen held for cooking up sabotage plot to earn rewards

SURAT: The investigation into Saturday's alleged incident of railway sabotage near Kim in Surat district has revealed that it was a fabricated story. Three railway employees had removed parts of the track to make it seem like an attempt to derail a train, took videos and photographs, and installed the fish plates and other removed parts back in a bid to gain acclaim and rewards for averting an accident, the probe found.

Police arrested the three accused, and shared details of the investigation on Monday. Two of the arrested persons are trackmen, Subhash Podar (39) and Manish Mistry, while the third, Shubham Jayswal (26), is a contracted worker.

Podar, a BSc graduate, has been employed with the railways for nine years, and is from Bhagalpur in Bihar. Mistry is from Ankuri village in Patna, while Jayswal is from Savaiya Mahalwal village in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh. All three are currently living in Kim.

Police had on Saturday registered a case for damage to the tracks under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 3(5) (criminal act by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 61(2)(a) (criminal conspiracy), 125 (rash or negligent acts that put human life or personal safety at risk) and others. The accused were also booked under the Railway Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Initially, the suspects told police that they noticed three persons running away from the tracks between Kim and Kosamba villages at about 5.15am. They claimed that on examining the tracks, they found 71 elastic rail clip keys and two fish plates removed, and installed these back in 25 minutes. After the case was reported, police had doubts about how it could be done in such a short time.

"While examining their phones, we found a few photos and videos of the removed parts from their recycle bin that were shot between 2am and 5am. They could not explain this, which strengthened our doubts about their involvement," said Surat SP Hitesh Joysar.

The investigation has been handed over to the special operations group. Police will produce the accused in court on Tuesday.