Woman injured after explosion in running train in Bihar; one passenger arrested

A woman passenger was injured after an explosion in a general compartment of 15553 Bhagalpur-Jainagar Express at the home signal of Samastipur railway station in Bihar on Wednesday noon, and police have arrested a man who allegedly carried the explosive material in the train, officials said.

Eyewitnesses said the explosive material kept in a bag in the bogie went off and some alert passengers immediately threw the bag out of the train and pulled the alarm chain, averting a major tragedy.

According to the Muzaffarpur rail superintendent of police (SP) Kumar Ashish, the government rail police (GRP) and railway protection force (RPF) got an information about fire in a running train at around 1.30pm near the home signal.

On getting information, a joint team of RPF and GRP reached the spot and recovered a half-burnt luggage bag. During their search, police recovered clothes, ₹6,000 in cash, an Aadhaar card, an ATM card, besides some electric items. During preliminary investigation police found explosives smell from the seized bag.

The police team detained the person who allegedly carried the explosives. Identified as Arvind Mandal, a native of Sakri, he also received minor injuries on his hand.

When the train arrived at Darbhanga station, the police team took him to the police station for interrogation. In the course of investigation police found a railway journey ticket from New Delhi to Barauni and Barauni to Sakri.

“During interrogation, Mandal confessed that he was carrying 250 grams of explosive material to make crackers. Further investigation is on,” said the rail SP.

Initial investigation revealed that explosives material kept in a bag on the upper berth, probably someone put a burning beedi or cigarette on the bag, due to which the bag caught fire after loud explosion.

The injured woman identified as Raji Devi boarded the train from Sultanganj and she was on her way to Darbhanga. She is a resident of Kadrachak village and had gone to her native place to perform Chhath Puja.