Patna,(BiharTimes): Contradicting the claim of the Railways that the Maoists were involved in the derailment of of New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express near Chapra in Bihar the state chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and two former railway ministers from the state––who too had served as CMs––directly blamed the Indian Railways for the tragedy in which five passengers lost their lives and 22 received injuries. 

Manjhi said that prima facie it does not appear to be the handiwork of Maoists. Instead he said the incident appears to be a result of error on the part of Railways.

Talking to reporters he ruled out sabotage by Maoists as the cause behind the derailment. The chief minister claimed that no trace of blast on the track or any other evidence suggesting sabotage has been found so far.

Manjhi said he spoke to Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda about the incident and also drew his attention towards announcement of ex-gratia of only Rs two lakh for the family of the dead whereas the standard practice is to pay Rs five lakh ex-gratia in such cases.

Former chief minister Nitish Kumar, who had also served as the Railway Minister, raised the similar issue of ex-gratia payment. Both he and chief minister questioned why a pilot engine was not run ahead of Rajdhani Express as per standard practise in the Maoists-hit region and that too when the bandh call was given by them.

Another former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav too put all the blames on the Railways for the accident.

Manjhi announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the dead and announced free medical treatment for the injured taken to the Patna Medical College and Hospital from the accident site.

The new Director General of Police P K Thakur also ruled out Maoist involvement. He too said that no indication of blast or live bombs have been found from tracks from near the incident site so far.

Railway Board Chairman, Arunendra Kumar, and local BJP MP, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, saw Maoists hand in the accident. Rudy also talked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone in this regard.

However, the Railway Minister Gowda, after visiting the spot, did not say much on the issue of Maoists’ involvement.