Kolkata: The West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told NDTV on Saturday that Maoists were behind the Gyaneshwari Express derailment and claimed to have identified the culprits behind the incident that has claimed over 120 lives so far.
"Those who did it are all members of Maoist squads. We have identified them and search is on to nab them," Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told reporters.
The Bengal top cop said that 10-12 Maoists arrived at the disaster site around midnight in a white van, hours before the derailment.
"Among the Maoists were two supporters of PCPA, who are out on bail. The two PCPA supporters Umakant and Bapi Mahto were held six months ago for blocking road," said the West Bengal DGP.
"We have information that the two, along with others of the squad, had gone to the site on the night of the incident and had opened the pendral clips and fishplates before the derailment occurred," he said, adding the Maoists also took help of the PCPA.
In reply to a question, he said that investigators probing the incident have collected a number of samples from the site and have not come across evidence of any explosion as claimed by the driver of the express train.
Besides the CID and the state police teams, a team of forensic experts were also at the site, he said.
Twelve railway linesmen posted in the Khemasuli-Saridha area were being questioned by investigators, the official said.
Asked to comment on the silence by Maoists following the incident, he said, "They speak only when they kill the police. They remain silent while killing civilians. They are waging a war against the state."
Thirteen coaches of the passenger train derailed in the wee hours on Friday as portions of the track was missing. A goods train coming from the opposite direction rammed into five of them, causing the maximum casualties.