Photo: Kaushal Bishnoi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Teams from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Rajasthan’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have joined the investigation into an explosion that damaged a stretch of the Anupgarh-Suratgarh railway line in Sri Ganganagar district, close to the Pakistan border, late on Tuesday, November 3. Nobody was hurt, but police said a passenger train had crossed the same spot only about 45 minutes before the blast.
What happened on the line
The explosion went off at around 9:45 pm near 50 GB village in the Ramsinghpur area, according to police. It broke two concrete sleepers under the rails, knocked the track clips loose and left a crater roughly two feet deep in the track bed. Residents living around 200 metres away heard the bang and alerted the authorities, who sealed off the section.
North Western Railway cancelled four services on the Suratgarh-Anupgarh section on Wednesday as a precaution, and railway officials said work to restore normal movement on the route was under way.
Sabotage not ruled out, but no device found yet
Sri Ganganagar Superintendent of Police Harishankar Yadav said the district police were leading the probe and that the nature of the explosion would only be clear once the forensic report came in. Railway Protection Force Inspector General Jyoti Kumar confirmed that NIA and ATS teams had reached the site. A case has been registered at Ramsinghpur police station on a complaint from the RPF, and the Bikaner range Inspector General, Om Prakash, has been camping at the spot to oversee the investigation.
A large search through Wednesday did not turn up identifiable remains of an explosive device, such as wires or batteries, police sources said. Forensic teams have taken samples to establish whether a chemical explosive was used. Investigators are also examining whether ballast stones were removed so that something could be placed beneath the sleepers, though officials stress this has not been confirmed.
Rajasthan’s Minister of State for Home, Jawahar Singh Bedham, said those responsible would not be spared.
Why the location worries agencies
Ramsinghpur lies about 60 km from the international border, in a district that has repeatedly seen drone drops from across the frontier. On October 12, Rajasthan Police intercepted a Pakistani drone in Sri Ganganagar district that had dropped heroin, around 6 kg of RDX rigged as an improvised explosive device and 600 rounds of ammunition. Investigators say no link between that seizure and the track blast has been established so far.
The blast came days before Diwali, and political leaders in the state have questioned how such an incident could occur on a working line so close to the border during the festive season.
What happens next
The forensic report is expected to settle whether an explosive was used and, if so, what kind. Until then, agencies are working through the site evidence, digital communications and possible contacts of suspects, and the motive remains unknown. No group has been named in connection with the blast.
