PM sees foreign hand in UP rail accident, experts mum

A rail accident happened in Kanpur... police found out that was a conspiracy from across the border.

NEW DELHI/GONDA: Conspirators from “across the border” were responsible for a train derailment near Kanpur that killed 150 people and injured more than 200 last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

His remarks follow the arrest of four men in Nepal and Bihar this January, who had allegedly told police that the Pakistani spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence, was behind the Kanpur accident — the worst train tragedy in the country in six years.

“It was a conspiracy and the conspirators carried it out sitting across the border,” Modi said at a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, which votes on February 27 in the fifth round of the seven-phase assembly elections in the state.

The government has asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to ascertain the sabotage angle.

The agency has sought help from experts with IIT-Kanpur (IIT-K) to know the technical aspects of the accident.

The IIT team, which visited the site on Wednesday, will study the rail ministry’s report and look at the condition of the tracks, coaches, and speed of the train.

“We will take at least a month to submit our report to the NIA. As of now we are discussing the case among ourselves after the site visit,” said Sandeep Sangal, one of the experts. The team will submit its report after the state election results are declared on March 11.

The Indore-Patna Express jumped rails near Kanpur Dehat in Pukhrayan on November 21.