New Delhi: In the midst of contradictory claims, Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya on September 10 said "suspected sabotage" is the cause of the derailment of the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express train near Gaya and ruled out the possibility of the bridge being unsafe.

Addressing a press conference, he said, "Our information is based on our local technical officials at the site as fishplates, nuts and bolts removed from the track have been found."

When asked to comment on Advani's statement that it seemed to be an accident, Dattatreya said, "I have no comments. I cannot contradict (what Advani had said)."

As soon as he got the information about the accident, he said he had informed the Deputy Prime Minister about the suspected sabotage and he instructed him to keep him posted every two hours.

When a reporter said the director general of police of Bihar and inspector general of police (Railways) at the site of the accident had doubted the sabotage theory, Dattatarya said the local officials might have their own information to draw the conclusion.

The minister said the bridge on which the accident occurred is nearly 100 years old (constructed in 1916) but not listed as a "distress" bridge in the Railways and can withstand the Rajdhani speed of 130 km per hour. He, however, said he was not aware at what speed the train was moving at that time.

The identified 526 distress bridges, he said, need speed reduction, rehabilitation and special patrolling.

PTI