Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Exp mows down 7 elephants in Assam, 5 coaches derailed
Nagaon/ Guwahati (PTI): At least seven elephants were killed, and one was injured after a herd of jumbos was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam's Hojai district early Saturday, officials said.
Five coaches and the train’s engine were also derailed, they said.
Initially, all eight elephants were reported to have been killed, though later it was said that one of them was found injured.
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No passengers were injured in the accident, which occurred at 2.17 am, the officials said.
Nagaon divisional forest officer Suhash Kadam told PTI that the accident in Changjurai village is suspected to have occurred due to heavy fog in the area.
“Autopsy of the seven dead jumbos is underway, and treatment is on for the injured one by local veterinary doctors. Cremation will be done near the accident site. Legal formalities are being followed,” he said.
NFR chief spokesperson Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said the accident took place in the Jamunamukh- Kampur section under the Lumding division.
The area is about 126 km from Guwahati.
He claimed that the accident took place at a location which is not a designated elephant corridor. “The train driver, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, the jumbos dashed with the train,” he added.
Sharma said accident relief trains, along with top officials from the divisional headquarters, have already reached the site.
The NFR general manager and the divisional railway manager of Lumding have also rushed to the site, he said.
Helpline numbers -- 0361-2731621 / 2731622 / 2731623 -- have been activated at Guwahati railway station, he added.
The NFR spokesperson said the passengers of the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in the vacant berths available in other compartments, and the train, without the derailed coaches, left the site for Guwahati at 6.11 am.
The passengers will be accommodated in additional coaches, which will be added to the train at Guwahati, and the train will resume its journey after that, he said.
Trains scheduled to pass through the affected section have been diverted through the UP line, and restoration work is underway, Sharma added.
The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram's Sairang (near Aizawl) to the Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi.
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Cong leader Pradeep Eshwar raises doubts over CJ Roy’s death, asks if he shot himself or was shot
Bengaluru: Congress leader and Chikballapura MLA Pradeep Eshwara raised doubts over the death of Businessman CJ Roy amid IT raids at his office in Bengaluru. He was addressing press persons in the city on Saturday.
“Did he really shoot himself using a pistol or did someone shoot him?,” Eshwar stated, raising suspicion.
C.J. Roy allegedly committed suicide on Friday. According to reports, the 57-year-old Confident Group Chairman allegedly shot himself using a pistol during Income Tax Raids at the Confident Group’s headquarters in Langford Town here.
Several media reports have claimed that Roy took the extreme over severe stress following repeated Income Tax raids on companies linked to him.
Speaking after a talent award ceremony for SSLC and PUC students held during the ongoing Kanakotsava celebrations in Kanakapura, he stated that there was no CCTV footage from the scene of the incident and that only Income Tax Department officials were present at the time. “We do not know what happened inside,” he added.
Furthermore, Eshwar alleged that as per his preliminary information, the Bharatiya Janata Party had forced Roy to find crores of rupees for elections. “They (BJP) were targeting Roy for refusing to give money. Our country cannot develop with such a corrupt BJP,” he said.
He also questioned the BJP’s silence over the issue, he asked, “Not only Ashokanna, Sunilanna, Yatnal, but also a monkey from Mysuru who keeps talking about everything. Why is no one speaking out about this?”
“The BJP is not allowing a common man to earn money. Roy has no debt, no problem. Income Tax officials have been harassing him for the past one month. If BJP is at the Centre, this harassment will continue,” he said, demanding an SIT investigation into the case.
SIT formed to probe the case
Meanwhile, Bengaluru Police on Saturday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the death of C.J. Roy.
In a statement, police said that Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh has ordered a comprehensive and meticulous investigation into the case and transferred the probe to the SIT. The team will be headed by Joint Commissioner of Police (West Zone) C. Vamshi Krishna.
