‘I was paid Rs 50,000 to derail Indore-Patna Express’

This is the confession of one of the accused in the Indore-Patna Express derailment case, which saw more than 100 people dead in November 2016.

"Plant bombs on trains and be assured of a luxurious life," was the assurance given to one of the accused in the November 2016 Indore-Patna train derailment case. The Bihar police had claimed that it had busted a module that was involved in train derailments at the behest of the ISI.

Three suspected Inter-Services Intelligence moles, Moti Paswan, Uma Patel and Mukesh Yadav were arrested and produced before the court on Wednesday.

During Moti's questioning, it was revealed that he was directed to plant a pressure cooker bomb on the railway track at Ghorasan near Motihari on October 1, 2016. He said that instructions came from Nepal based operative Brajesh Giri . He said that the module boss was Shamshul Huda who is currently in Dubai.

While the pressure-cooker bomb was detected by villagers, Moti decided that it was time to change his modus operandi. He is said to have told his interrogators that they decided to target the Indore-Patna Express. This time around they decided not to plant a bomb on the tracks.

"I reached Kanpur with a gas cutter. A few hours before the train could arrive, I removed the fish plates (a metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track) and the pandrol clips (used to fasten railway sleepers). Two others - Mohammad Zubair and Zia-ul - were with me at the time of the operation," Moti told interrogators.

For this operation, a sum of Rs 7.5 lakh had been deposited in Giri's account. "I was paid Rs 50,000 for this operation. I was also told that soon I would be given an SUV and also a flat in Delhi," Moti told the police.

The other two accused are currently being questioned. The NIA has written to the Home ministry asking for the transfer of the case.

Oneindia News