Dawood link in Kanpur rail tragedy?
11:03PM Thu 19 Jan, 2017
NEW DELHI: For the past three days, intelligence agencies and Delhi Police's Special Cell are trying to find a Delhi link to the Kanpur railway accident that killed 150 people in November 2016.
Three men — Zia-ul-Haq, Shoaib and Zubair — are being grilled at the cell's headquarters at Lodhi Colony in south Delhi for the train accident that was supposedly orchestrated by Pakistan's spy agency ISI, sources told TOI. The detained trio live in Jama Masjid area and work with travel agencies.
Police suspect that two of the men were involved in a conspiracy to blow up the railway tracks and cause mass casualties. They may be arrested late on Thursday.
Two handlers of the accused men have also been identified as Shamshul Hoda, who is based in Dubai, and Brij Kishore Giri, a gangster from Nepal. Hoda deals in fake currency and visas and has links with D Company and ISI. Incidentally, Haq, who was detained at Delhi, is Hoda's nephew and works as a visa agent.
The agencies had acted on the interrogation report of three criminals — Umashankar Patel, Motilal Paswan and Mukesh Yadav — who were arrested in Motihari, Bihar on charges of killing a man Deepak and his uncle, Anil Ram.
Deepak and Anil Ram had placed a cooker bomb on the railway tracks in Ghorasahan of east Chamaparan, Bihar. The operation had failed as the bomb was detected by villagers and defused. This led to their handlers suspecting that the duo had betrayed them. The three men arrested by Motihari police were sent by Giri to kill them.
Paswan was the one who had made the explosive claim of being involved in the Kanpur accident. He said they were in touch with Hoda and Giri for funds and infrastructure to carry out the attack. They also confessed to having chopped off Deepak and Anil Ram's head and sending photographs to Giri and Hoda as proof.
Giri, who received funds from Hoda, had allegedly given Rs 3 lakh to Patel, Paswan and Yadav for the task and promised flats, vehicles and help in producing a Bhojpuri movie. Giri and his two aides, Shambhu and Mujahir Ansari, was later arrested by Nepal Police after an encounter. Giri is in a critical condition as he was shot at least four times in the face-off.
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