State police asked to be more vigilant

KASARGOD : The Central Intelligence Bureau has cautioned the state police to be vigilant about attempts being made by terrorist elements and miscreants to sabotage trains between Kasargod and Manjeswaram.In a report to DGP Jacob Punnoose, the CIB Chief Harisena Varma said that the state police should be vigilant to prevent the sabotage attempts. According to the CIB report, large stones were placed on the railway track near rivers on two places between Kasargod and Manjeswaram so that the train will plummet into the river after a possible derailment.The ‘Express’ had carried a report on September 25 that the state police had failed to take a serious view of the attempts being made by anti-social elements and terrorists to derail trains between Kumbla and Manjeswaram.It was on September 12 that a large stone weighing about 8 kg was placed on the railway track near Kumbla Railway Station. But a tragedy was averted as local people removed the stone and informed the police. This happened when an  express train was due to pass the track within five  minutes.Though the police registered a case and started a probe, the police have not been able to trace the culprits even after nearly two months.A cement slab being used to indicate kilometres beside the railway track was seen put on railway track on Vamachchoor Bridge near Manjeswaram on  September 23. The loco pilot of a goods train located the cement slab on the track around 9.30 pm. The local pilot then slowed down the train and ran the engine over the slab crushing it into pieces. If the loco pilot had not detected the cement post, the goods train would have derailed. The cement slab was allegedly laid on the track to derail the Mangalore-Chennai Express which was to start from Mangalore at 9.30p.m. But meanwhile, the goods train came and ran over the cement post.  But no serious investigation was conducted by the police into the incident whether any terrorist elements were involved in the incident. Even otherwise, the police fail to arrest the anti-social or terrorist elements lurking at night between Kumbla and Manjeswaram stations. It is a common occurrence between the two stations to throw stones at the speeding trains at night.  A woman had sustained injuries on her nose recently.