On Saturday, panic spread among people around the Kim railway station in Gujarat’s Surat when it was found that several critical components had been removed from railway tracks, followed immediately by relief that the sabotage had been caught just before a train was supposed to pass over the affected rail lines.

Coming in the wake of detonators and a gas cylinder being found on tracks in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, central agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA) got involved and the trackman who had discovered the sabotage became a local hero.

Just three days on, it has emerged that the trackman and two other railway employees had carried out the sabotage themselves, risking several lives to get social media fame, promotions and a reward, and to ensure the continuance of night duty for trackmen, which gets them an off the next day. The night duty was supposed to be discontinued after the monsoon season and the revelation of the ‘sabotage’, the men had calculated, would keep it going. 

The Incident

Around 5.25 am on Saturday, trackman Subhash Podar informed railway authorities that he had noticed several locks had been opened and two fishplates – which connect two railway tracks – had been taken off and kept on the adjacent railway lines between the Kim and Kosamba railway stations. Podar said he was on patrol when he noticed three men near the tracks and they ran away as soon as he shouted.

Two trains, including the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani, had passed over the tracks just before the sabotage was discovered and another train was supposed to cross the same section soon after, but was stopped at the Kosamba station. Podar was joined by fellow trackman Manishkumar Surdev Mistry, contract worker Shubham Jaiswal and others and they repaired the tracks, allowing the resumption of operations.

Suspicions

Police and NIA officials said several holes in Podar’s story became apparent as soon as they began investigating the ‘sabotage’. 

The loco pilots of the two other trains, they said, had reported nothing amiss even though they had gone over the tracks minutes before the ‘sabotage’ came to light. The 12952 Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express had crossed at a speed of 130 kmph between 4.53 and 4.58 am – about 25 minutes before Podar raised an alarm – and the 14808 Dadar JU Express had passed between 4.38 and 4.44 am at a speed of 110 kmph.

As many as 71 bolts were found removed, a process that takes a minimum of two hours, and removing fishplates takes experienced people at least 25 minutes provided they have the right equipment. The loco pilots of the other trains, they said, would have noticed the fishplates lying on the adjacent rail tracks, so it was clear to the investigators that at least those were in place when the Rajdhani had gone by. 

Another thing that made the investigators immediately suspicious is that while Podar had said he had seen three men near the tracks, who had run away, no footprints indicating their presence were found. 

How It Was Done

Officials said anybody working on the tracks continuously for two hours – the minimum time required to remove the locks – would have been noticed. So, Podar, Mistry and Jaiswal started working under the cover of darkness around 3 am and started removing the locks over a distance of 1 km, hiding whenever a train would go by. 

After the Rajdhani crossed the portion of the tracks, the men used the time between 4.58 and 5.25 am to remove the fishplates and keep them on the adjacent tracks. When that was done, Podar raised the alarm and informed the authorities. 

Podar had told the police that he had shot a video of the missing locks and fishplates but when they began questioning him, he said he had deleted it. His phone was checked and it was found he had downloaded a video at 4.57 am, more than 20 minutes before he said he had discovered the ‘sabotage’, which proved his involvement. Photos were also found in Mistry’s phone with a timestamp of 2.57 am, when the three men are thought to have begun removing the locks.

Confession

Confronted with all the evidence, all three men confessed to the crime, officials said. They told the officials they committed the crime because bringing an act of sabotage to light would get them promotions, a reward, social media fame and ensure that night duty continued. The extra day off, they said, gave them more time to spend with family. 

All three are now in custody.

(With inputs from Mahendraprasad)