The Ahmedabad City Police, already in a heightened state of alert in the run-up to the Jagannath Rath Yatra scheduled for June 27, is now investigating a possible case of sabotage with a Vande Bharat train stopping short of hitting a metal rod lying across its tracks between Chandlodiya and Khodiyar railway stations in the city on Sunday night.
The FIR in this regard was filed at Ghatlodia police station at 4.30 am on Monday morning, based on a complaint by a Senior Section Engineer (SSE) of the Western Railway (WR).
The engineer said he received a call at 8.58 pm on Sunday that a “metal angle” had come under the train no. 26902 Veraval – Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express. When he reached the spot between Chandlodiya and Khodiyar railway stations, he saw a 20-feet-long stretch of red and yellow coloured railway fence, bent and lying to the side of the tracks, he stated in the FIR.
By that time, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) had also reached the spot. Upon confirming with other officials, the engineer learnt that the loco pilot had spotted the fence lying across the tracks and had stopped the train in time. The fence was then removed from the tracks with help from the Assistant Loco Pilot. Though the incident caused a 9-minute delay to the train, no damage was reported.
However, the city police are investigating the case as possible sabotage, booking unknown persons under section 150(1) (maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train), and 170(c) – tampering with railway property to cause obstruction to a running train, of The Railway Act.
