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Unidentified people have been accused in a case of damaging a rail line in Gazipur’s Bankharia in a way that led directly to a train accident that killed a man, according to bdnews24.com.
The case was initiated by Md Ashraful Alam Khan, deputy assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railway’s Department of Public Works on Thursday, according to Ferdous Ahmed Biswas, the chief of Kamalapur Railway Police Station.
“The case includes charges of sabotage and murder.”
Seven carriages of the Mohanganj Express headed from Netrakona to Dhaka’s Kamalapur derailed in Bankharia around 4am on Wednesday as a section of the track between the Bhawal and Rekendrapur stations was intentionally sabotaged.
Passenger Aslam Mia was killed in the accident and several other people, include the train master, were seriously injured.
Three separate investigations into the incident are ongoing, one from the railways, another from the Gazipur district administration, and one from the Ministry of Railways.
A taskforce has also been formed to track down those involved in the incident. Members of the taskforce conducted an operation in the area on Thursday.
‘TWO VILLAGES NEARLY DEVOID OF MEN’
As news of the raid spread, it stirred panic among locals, many of whom fled the area. Two nearby villages were nearly devoid of men by the time the taskforce arrived.
"An operation was conducted in different parts of two villages in Gazipur’s Bhawal and Gandhibari from 1:30pm to 5pm to find those involved and identify the source of a gas cylinder used in the sabotage,” said Lt Col Md Rafiqul Islam, the captain of the Gazipur-63 BGB Battalion.
“During the raid, most of the shops in the area were found to be closed. The elderly, women and children were home, but most of the men were gone.”
“Some information was collected from the railway watchmen. A few gas cylinder shops were found in the area. Two shops selling illegal gas cylinders were found during the raid. The police will investigate these shops further. The operation will continue on Friday as well.”