A railway inquiry has blamed 'sabotage' for the Jnaneshwari Express accident on May 28 in West Bengal, which claimed 150 lives.
The preliminary inquiry conducted by the Commissioner Railway Safety S Nayak into the train mishap has said that the accident had occurred "due to tampering of track including removal of elastic rail clips and disturbance of cross level.
"The cause of the accident is attributed to and certified as sabotage," said the inquiry report submitted to Railway Ministry.
The Howrah-Mumbai Jnaneshwari Express derailed and hit a goods train coming from the opposite direction between Khemsuli and Sardiha station in Kharagpur division during early hours in May killing 150 people.
While 46 passengers were severely wounded, 111 received minor injuries in the accident.
In the report, Nayak said: "Having carefully considered all the evidence tendered, records produced, observations, site inspection and circumstantial evidence, I have come to the conclusion that derailment of Jnaneswari Express followed by collision with a goods train coming from opposite direction on May 25 was caused due to tampering of track including removal of elastic clips and disturbance of cross level."
After the accident, railways have stopped running passengers trains between 10 PM to 5 AM in Kharagpur-Tata section.
