A railway employee was remanded in three days' Railway Protection Force (RPF) custody on Monday after he was arrested for allegedly stealing detonating signals — coin-sized devices placed on tracks to alert drivers about potential obstructions ahead, like fog — and placing them on a track just as a military special train was to cross the stretch in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh.
On September 18, 10 of these detonators went off near Sagphata, between the Nepanagar and Khandwa stations of the Bhusawal division. This prompted authorities to halt the military special train for two minutes. A case was registered against the accused, Sabir, on Sunday under section 3 (a) of the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act for stealing the detonators, inspector Sanjeev Kumar of Khandwa RPF said, as reported by PTI.
As per the report, Sabir is a mate, which is a rank higher than gangmen -- who patrol the tracks and maintain them to ensure the smooth passage of trains. Whereas, mates are responsible for keeping the tracks neat and removing any loose materials. According to Kumar, only two or three government departments have these detonators and they were not issued to the accused officially.
Sabir, the report noted, was drunk on the day of the incident. The court has remanded Sabir in Central Railway RPF custody for questioning, Commandant Manoj Kumar told PTI.
Signal detonators, the commandant said, do not cause harm since they are just crackers and do not contain any explosive material. “It's just a mixture specifically designed for putting on tracks to make a sound and not to explode,” he added. These are also called fog signals.
Another railway official said the military special train, en route to Khandwa, was briefly halted after the detonators went off. Following a thorough inspection, the train was cleared to continue its journey.