Rourkela: Over two months after a railway trackman was killed in IED blast on rail tracks triggered by suspected Maoists in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the investigation considering the sensitive nature of the incident.
As per sources, the NIA office in Bhubaneswar has registered a case in connection with the incident. The agency is also in the process of questioning different people as part of the investigation in the sensitive case.
NIA officials were stated to have questioned one person, who was earlier arrested by the police in connection with the case. The arrested person was reportedly brought to the NIA office in Bhubaneswar for detailed interrogation.
The focus of the NIA probe is primarily on ascertaining the source of explosives used for the railway track blast. The investigators are also making efforts to ascertain whether the incident was part of a wider conspiracy.
It may be recalled that a railway trackman was killed, and another injured when an IED planted by suspected Maoist operatives exploded on railway tracks under K Balang police limits of Rourkela Police District (RPD) in Sundargarh in August.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased.
According to sources, the incident occurred during a track inspection on August 3, the last day of the CPI (Maoist)’s Martyr Week, near Renjda station, about 110 km from Rourkela and close to the Maoist-dominated Saranda forest in Jharkhand. The explosion partially damaged a concrete sleeper on Rourkela–Barsuan–Renjda–Topadihi–Karampada rail route, mostly used for mineral transport.
Maoist posters were spotted in the area the previous night, prompting a routine track scan as per the Standard Operating Procedure. The blast took place about one kilometre away from where the posters were found, police said.
In a related development, the NIA is already investigating loot of a huge cache of explosives by Maoists from a truck headed to a stone quarry in Sundargarh district in May this year.
Sources said looted explosives weighed about 4,000 kg. There were about 200 boxes consisting of blasting explosives. Each box had about nine gelatin sticks and weighed about 20 to 25 kg.