NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday got police remand of three accused in the Ghorasahan (Motihari) case, the probe into which had earlier revealed the role of Pakistan’s covert agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) indirectly funding its agents to effect train derailments in India.
“Accused Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav have been taken on police remand by the NIA in the Motihari case. The three accused will not be produced in the Special NIA Court, Patna on February 14, 2017,” the agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the agency is likely to approach Nepal police for questioning Kathmandu-based ISI operative Shamshul Hoda who has been deported to the Himalayan country by United Arab Emirates (UAE). Hoda is believed to be the mastermind behind the recent train derailments in India including the Kanpur incident in which nearly 150 passengers were killed and another 200 were injured.
Sources said the sleuths of India’s external Intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing will soon join the probe with Nepal police to unravel Hoda’s nexus with the ISI and his role in funding criminals to plant IEDs on railway tracks of the Indian Railways network.
During the probe into the Motihari case by the Bihar police, the three accused Paswan, Patel and Yadav had revealed the role of ISI in train derailments in the hinterland.
Recently, the Union Home Ministry had entrusted the NIA to probe Ghorasahan case, Hirakhand Express train derailment in Vizianagaram and Kanpur following prima facie materials suggesting sabotage in the rail infrastructure.
The trio had claimed before the Bihar police that derailment of Indore-Patna Express train on November 20 last year near Kanpur was caused due to sabotage by Pakistan's ISI. While nearly 150 passengers lost their lives due to the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express train, 39 persons were killed in the Hirakhand Express train derailment at Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.