The police have arrested two individuals in connection with the attempted derailment of a train traveling from Okha to Bhavnagar near Kundli village in Botad on the night of September 25.
The suspects, identified as Jayesh alias Jalo Nagar Bawaliya and Ramesh Kanji Salia, both from Alav village in Botad taluka, devised a plan to derail the train after watching a video on YouTube. It has been revealed that both suspects, who are unemployed, planned the crime with the intention of robbing the train due to their financial struggles. The suspects attempted to sabotage the train by placing an iron girder on the tracks. The investigation further revealed that the iron girder was stolen during railway repair work.
Botad Superintendent of Police, Kishor Baloliya, said “On September 25, there was an attempt to derail a passenger train by placing an iron piece on the railway tracks near Kundli village. Given the severity of the crime, the Botad district police, Railway Protection Force, ATS, and several central agencies conducted the investigation. Two suspects, Ramesh and Jayesh, have been arrested in connection with the incident. They had planned to loot money and valuables from the passengers after the train derailed in the nearby fields. The investigation is ongoing,”
Last week, on September 25, at 2:58 a.m., the 19210 Okha-Bhavnagar Express struck a 4-foot-long piece of railway track placed in the middle of the tracks, two kilometers from Kundli station in Ranpur taluka, Botad. The piece, an old metre gauge track typically used to mark railway boundaries in rural areas, collided with the train’s engine, causing a loss of pressure. Consequently, the locomotive was declared a failure.
The incident occurred within the jurisdiction of the Ranpur police station, which registered an offense against unknown persons under sections 3/5, 61-2-A, 62, 125, and sections 150-1-A, 150-2-B of the Railway Act. The police were conducting an investigation when the two suspects were arrested.