Kolkata:
At least 140 people died in the Jnaneshwari train disaster last year. Six bogies of the train derailed and were then hit by a goods train in May, 2010.
The incident happened in West Bengal's Maoist-hit Midnapore district. Mamata Banerjee, the then Railway Minister, alleged sabotage but never named the Maoists. Instead, she indirectly blamed the CPM.
Now, for the first time, Ms Banerjee has admitted that Maoists were behind the Jnaneswari disaster.
"You know that in the Jnaneshwari Express disaster, 140 people died at their hands. People of India and Bengal. They caused an accident and killed 140 people. Today that has been proved," she said.
The Left wants Mamata to apologise.
"Then she had said that CPI in particular and we were involved in it. But now, because CBI and her own police CID both have confirmed that Maoists are involved, she is compelled to do it. But she is not yet ready to accept she had made a mistake earlier," said CPM leader Surya Kanta Mishra.
But an apology seems distant.
Mamata has clarified that, true, the CBI has chargesheeted Maoists for the Jnaneshwari disaster but who were behind the Maoists is still being investigated.