Plot to derail train in Jaunpur foiled, 2 held

VARANASI: Two men were arrested in Jaunpur on the charges of conspiring to derail a train by placing a steel drum on the railway track. The accused, Afzal Ali and Afzal alias Sonu, were arrested on Friday night.

They allegedly placed the drum on a track near Aunka village in Jaunpur on Wednesday.

However, timely action by Railway Protection Force personnel, who spotted the drum and removed it before the train arrived on the track, averted any mishap. Thereafter the RPF and the local police started investigating the case leading to the arrest of the two. Police said it was yet to be ascertained as to why they wanted to derail the train.

Baksha police station officer Vikram Lakshman Singh said they gathered information from locals that the duo could be behind the conspiracy. “We raided their homes and grilled them. Both confessed to their crime, after which they were arrested and sent to jail under Sections 151 and 153 of the Railways Act,” he said.

The RPF personnel discovered the steel drum on the railway tracks between Sarai Harkhu and Shri Krishna Nagar stations on Varanasi-Lucknow via Sultanpur rail line. RPF personnel also alerted officials and police immediately.