Former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi Attacks Centre, Says Can't Claim 'Sabotage' Everyday

New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to CNN-News18, former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Monday rejected allegations of 'sabotage' and criticised Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for failing to control rising number of train accidents in the country.

Trivedi said, "If the system is not safe, railway minister should have stopped the train because we can't risk a single life...the system has been totally collapsed..I have report that Indian Railways has gone bankrupt".

A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday reached the Hirakhand Express accident site in Andhra Pradesh's Kuneru (in Vizianagaram district) to probe alleged Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) involvement in the tragedy.

With Railway suspecting sabotage in derailment of Hirakhand Express in the state, the Home Ministry reportedly asked the NIA to include the incident in its ongoing probe into possible role of Pakistan spy agency ISI in Indore-Patna Express mishap in 2016.

The investigating agency is also looking into the claims of three arrested persons that the derailment of Indore-Patna express on November 20, 2016 in which at least 150 people were killed, was carried out at the behest of ISI.

Also Read: Hirakhand Express Accident: 39 Dead, Over 60 Hurt as Train Derails in Andhra

The trio - Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar and Mukesh Yadav - were arrested last week from East Champaran district of Bihar. They had claimed to have got Rs 3 lakh to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at Ghorasahan railway station under the district on October 1 last year. Bihar Police has reportedly recovered the IEDs.

A team of NIA officials has already gone to Bihar to probe the accused and verify their claim. The three arrested persons have reportedly "confessed" about the ISI's possible role in the last year's derailment.

They also claimed to be working for the ISI, the sources said. At least 39 people lost their lives due to the derailment of Hirakhand Express at Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday night.

At least 39 people were killed and 69 injured when engine and nine coaches of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express jumped the tracks in the state's Vizianagaram district with the railways suspecting sabotage behind the derailment, the third in as many months. Engine and nine coaches of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express jumped tracks in Vizianagaram on Saturday night.

(With inputs from PTI)