RAIL ENGINE THEFT CASE: ENGINEER HELD FROM NOIDA

RPF HAD ALREADY ARRESTED THREE ACCUSED

PATNA: A railway engineer, who has been absconding after being accused of attempting to dismantle a vintage steam engine stationed at Purnia court railway station and sell its parts as scrap in December last year, has been arrested from Noida, railway officials said on Wednesday.

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) team from Samastipur division arrested the suspended engineer, Rajeev Ranjan Jha, on Tuesday and produced him in a railway court in Khagaria in Bihar, which remanded him to three days of RPF custody.

On December 14, Jha, his helper Sushil Yadav and sub-inspector posted at the diesel shed, Virendra Dwivedi, were found getting the engine, parked at Purnia court railway station for three decades, dismantled with the help of gas cutters.

According to an FIR lodged by the RPF later against seven persons, Jha, when caught in the act, brandished a letter claiming that the divisional mechanical engineer had ordered that scrap material from the engine be taken to the diesel locomotive shed nearby. However, an alert constable informed her superiors that the scrap had not reached the diesel shed. On April 1, 2022, the court of Khagaria railway magistrate issued a proclamation order against the three officials. The next day, Yadav surrendered before the court.

In the meantime, RPF had already arrested three of the accused, Rampadarath Sharma, Shishupal Singh and scrap dealer Neeraj Dhandhoria.

Samastipur divisional security commissioner S J A Jani confirmed the arrest from Noida.