Burhanpur: In a concerning incident, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Monday detained a railway employee for stealing detonators, which were later set off on a track in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, during the passing of a military special train. The detonators, though termed “harmless” by the Indian Railways, created a minor explosion that temporarily halted the train.
According to a statement from the Central Railway, the detained employee has been identified as Shabeer. He is being questioned by the RPF regarding the theft of the detonators. The incident occurred last week on the tracks of the Bhusawal division, with ten detonators going off as the military special train was passing through the area. Though no serious damage occurred, the authorities stopped the train for a brief two minutes as a precautionary measure.
Inspector Sanjeev Kumar of the Khandwa RPF confirmed that a case had been registered against the accused, identified as Sabir, a “mate” responsible for patrolling railway tracks. “We have registered a case under section 3(a) of the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act,” he said. The detonators, which are regularly used by the railways as a warning signal during conditions of poor visibility like fog, are designed to make a loud sound when run over by a train but are otherwise harmless.
The detonators are commonly referred to as “crackers” and are used to warn train operators of potential obstructions or unsafe conditions ahead. After the explosion, the deputy station superintendent at Sagphata heard the noise and immediately halted the military train to inspect the situation, allowing it to continue after just two minutes.
The incident raised alarm, coming just weeks after another railway-related security breach in Uttar Pradesh. On September 9, an LPG cylinder was placed on the tracks in Kanpur’s Shivrajpur area in an attempt to derail the Kalindi Express. The train, traveling from Prayagraj to Bhiwani, struck the cylinder, but fortunately, no serious damage occurred, and the train was safely halted. Six people, including two known offenders, were later detained in connection with that case.
