Two coaches of the Ratlam-Ambedkar Nagar DEMU train caught fire on Sunday morning at around 7 AM at Pritam Nagar railway station in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district, as per an official. No casualty has been reported so far. The railway station is located nearly 30 km from Ratlam, Western Railway's Ratlam division public relations officer Khemraj Meena said, as reported by the news agency PTI.
The driving motor coach (placed in the middle of the train) of the DEMU (diesel-electric multiple units) train caught fire at the station after departing from Ratlam station, Meena said, as reported by PTI.
According to Meena, an adjoining coach too caught the fire later on. He added that the fire tenders were quickly rushed to the site. He also confirmed that the fire has been mostly brought under the control. Meena further said that all passengers inside the train are safe. The train traffic was not affected much due to the incident, he added.
Meanwhile, the Kerala police chief directed the state crime branch to hand over all the probe details related to train fire incident to National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is currently investigating the case. DGP Anil Kant in an order issued on Thursday (April 20) said, "Sanction has been accorded to transfer the crime case, registered under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Railway Act and Explosive Substance Act, to the NIA's Kochi unit with immediate effect," as quoted by PTI.
The crime branch superintendent of Malappuram, the investigating officer, is directed to hand over the "CD files, connected records and properties of the case" to the central agency in due course of time, the order stated.
Earlietr on April 2, a miscreant sprinkled petrol and lit his co-passengers on fire on a moving Alappuzha-Kannur Express train at 9.45 pm. Three people in the compartment, including a 2-year-old child, fearing for life jumped out of the compartment and died on the spot. Nine others suffered injuries in the incident.