ISI behind rail accidents, claims prime suspect

 An arrested ISI operative has told his interrogators that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was behind the recent train tragedies in the country.

Dubai-based Shamshul Hoda was arrested in Nepal recently for his role in planting bombs on railway tracks in Bihar and causing a derailment near Kanpur.

A source, quoting the Nepal Police, said Hoda told his interrogators that Karachi-based ISI agent Safi Sheikh was behind the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express near Kanpur, in which 150 people died.

One of Hoda’s close associates, Braj Kishore Giri, hired three criminals in Bihar — instead of Indian Mujahideen operatives — on the instructions of Sheikh to carry out the derailment. The three — Uma Patel, Mukesh Yadav and Moti Paswan — were earlier Maoists and quite adept in causing sabotage. Giri, a resident of Kalaiya district in Nepal, was initially given Rs 8 lakh and promised another Rs 3 crore if the plan succeeded.

Paswan, the gang leader, was assigned the task of planting pressure-cooker bombs on the tracks in Ghorasan near Motihari on October 1. Two of his associates, Sohan alias Deepak Ram and Mohan alias Arun Ram, were with him during the operation.

But alert locals learnt about the bombs and informed the police. As the plan went awry, Sohan and Mohan were taken to Nepal and killed for their failure to complete the ISI task.

When it came to the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express on November 20, Paswan changed the modus operandi. 

“He changed trains to reach Kanpur. He got a gas-cutter with which he and two other ISI operatives removed fishplates and Pandrol clips. This caused the train derailment,” a source told DH.