Three railway trackmen were arrested in Surat district of Gujarat on Monday for alleged tampering with tracks and then alerting officials over a “sabotage attempt” to get themselves felicitated.
Three railway employees were arrested in the Surat district of Gujarat on Monday for allegedly tampering with tracks and then alerting officials about a “sabotage” in a bid to take credit for averting a possible train accident, police said.
Surat Rural Superintendent of Police Hotesh Joysar said the three employees—Subhash Poddar (39), Manish Mistry (28), and Shubham Jaiswal (26)—are trackmen in the railways’ maintenance department. He added that the accused indulged in such an act to get themselves felicitated.
The Surat Police started an inquiry after some unknown miscreants allegedly tampered with a railway track on September 21 by removing fish plates and loosening several bolts in a bid to derail trains.
The SP said Poddar and others, while on inspection between Kosamba and Kim stations at 5:30 am on September 21, had informed the authorities about “miscreants” removing elastic clips and two fishplates from one set of tracks and placing them on another to derail a train.
The SP said the accused, who were on night duty, had sent a video of the tampered truck to their seniors while alerting them.
He also said Railway officials had informed the police that a train had passed on the route just before the tampering was discovered.
“The time lapse between the time of the incident being detected and the movement of the train was too less and cannot be dislodged clips and plates in such a short period.
The cell phones of the trio were checked, and videos of the tracks tampered with, shot at intervals from 2:56 am to 4:57 am, were found. Mistry’s photos have also been deleted, said SP Joysar.”.
The incident happened about 5:30 am, and the accused had not informed the officials. So, the timings of the photos and videos shot were taken before the accused informed the officials,” said the SP, adding that the police became suspicious over the time interval.
During intense questioning, the three trackmen eventually confessed to the crime. They explained that they did such an act so they would be complemented and deployed on night duty, giving them time to spend with the family during the day.
