A day after the twin blasts in two bogies of the Kaziranga Express killed a techie from Bangalore and injured 14 others, National Security Guard (NSG) commandos inspected the bogies at Chennai Central.
The team, led by Lt Col Balakrishnan, Bomb Disposal Unit, NSG, flew in from the national capital and started investigations at 9 am. They inspected both the coaches stabled on platform 11 and the site of the blasts. The commandos scoured the area for evidence to get a fix on the components used to make the blast devices. After ascertaining the modus operandi, they will look for terror signatures by comparing it with other blasts they have been profiling since 1984.
The team gathered forensic evidence for about an hour and was briefed on the probe progress by the Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), the city police and the Crime Branch CID, which has been tasked with the investigation. The media was cordoned off during all this. A senior police officer told Express the NSG personnel were at the scene only to ‘profile the blasts’. They will provide technical assistance in the probe, if sought, the officer said.
B’lore-Nanded Train Fire Report Likely by Month-end
Bangalore: Commissioner of Railway Safety S K Mittal is likely to submit by the month-end his report on the Bangalore-Nanded Express fire tragedy that killed 26 passengers near Anantapur last December.
He told Express on Thursday that he has got some forensic reports, but they are not conclusive. “We are likely to get the final reports in a couple of days and we might submit the inquiry report by the end of this month.”
In his preliminary report, Mittal had remarked that the fire might have been caused by a negligent passenger.
He had recommended that the use of sockets to charge mobile phones be prohibited in trains between 9 pm and 7 am, and that fire-resistant curtains and upholstery be used in AC bogies.