Patna: The Patna police on Thursday recovered 20 kg of gunpowder from the Gwalior-Barauni Express at Siwan railway station here. Post the recovery, a bomb disposal squad and FSL team were pressed into service to investigate the matter. A police official, who was also a member of the Bomb Disposal Squad, said on the condition of anonymity that the seized gunpowder was enough to blow up a train as well as a station. However, it was neutralised.
The confiscation has raised questions on the security arrangements at the railway station, especially when the transportation of explosives or inflammable substances or even smoking inside the train compartment is strictly prohibited. Stringent penal provision has been in place for those found guilty of committing such crimes.
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In a similar incident earlier, some terrorists had brought explosives to Patna by Jan Shatabdi express train, leading to a blast during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Patna's Gandhi Maidan in 2014. The accused identified as Imran was inside the washroom of the railway station, when the bomb he was carrying exploded. Imran's colleagues were meanwhile busy planting bombs at the Gandhi Maidan.
In February 2023, police had recovered explosives from a rented house in Mithanpura locality of Muzaffarpur. Initially, the case was handled by the Bihar police and later it was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). During questioning, the arrested accused had confessed to the NIA officials that he brought the explosives by train. He also told NIA officials that it was easy to transport explosives by train.
