TN cops form special teams to probe railway track explosion

Special police teams have been formed to probe the blast that ripped off a portion of rail track in the wee hours of Saturday in Villupuram district in north Tamil Nadu. The state 'Q' branch police, which deals with extremist organizations, will also help in the investigations.

Villupuram Superintendent of Police P Pakalavan told TOI, "We have constituted five special teams and have begun detailed investigations. We have not made any arrests so far. We are probing all angles."

Police have, however, detained eight persons identified as Tamilvengai, Jothinarasimman, Babu, Ezhil Elango, Ganesan, Ezhumalai, Jayaraman and Kumar for questioning.

Passengers of Chennai-bound Rockfort Express had a miraculous escape when it managed to halt just ahead of the ripped off portion of the track near Perani station. An alert guard, T Rajasekaran, travelling in the Salem-Chennai express, which passed the section earlier, had heard the explosion and alerted the Perani station master. The on-coming Tiruchi-Chennai Rockfort Express, which was directed to proceed slowly, managed to halt about 200 feet ahead of the damaged track.Leaflets protesting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to India last week were found at the blast site.

Reacting to the incident, Union home minister P Chidambaram, who was in Chennai on Sunday morning, described it as "an act of extremism".

Chidambaram, who called on chief minister M Karunanidhi at his residence to apprise him about Rajapaksa's India visit, told reporters, "It is an attempted act of extremism. Alert railway officials averted a major disaster. Police and intelligence agencies are working together to nab the culprits. I am confident that the state police will arrest the accused soon."

In a bid to secure the tracks between Tambaram and Villupuram, personnel of the armed railway protection force (RPF) and government railway police (GRP) plan to man the railway tracks by moving to and fro on trolleys.

Meanwhile, a forum comprising of human rights organizations led by Scheduled Tribe Protection Movement secretary Prabha Kalvimani sought a free and fair investigation into the explosion. The forum that met on Sunday passed resolutions urging the police not to target human rights activists and Sri Lankan Tamil sympathizers and link them with the blast.

source:- The Times Of India