Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Bapi Mahato, the man said to be behind the deadly Gyaneshwari Express tragedy, had, reportedly, accepted the responsibility of the attack but retracted later after the police named him as the mastermind.
As per a report published in a leading English daily on Monday, Mahato – who is said to be controlling the People`s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) in the absence of Chakradhar Mahato - had said that he was “sorry” for what had happened, and that the targeting of a passenger train was a mistake as their plan was to derail a goods train.
Mahato said that they were, somehow, fed with wrong information that the goods train would cross through this track so they removed the pandrol clips, adding that they did not want to harm civilians…“There must have been some miscalculation.”
However, after the DGP Bhupinder Singh named him as the mastermind of the deadly attack on the train that left 168 dead, and the police launched a manhunt for him, Mahato claimed that he had no role in the attack.
He said that the PCPA is being framed by the ruling CPI (M) and the police. He put the blame for the attack squarely on the CPI (M) and claimed that its goons were behind the sabotage.
On his links with the Maoists, Mahato said, “We stay out of our homes for fear of security forces, and to stay in the jungles you need arms. There are animals, elephants and one has to have something to defend himself. The moment we pick up arms, we are branded Maoists.”
Maoists blasted rail tracks in West Midnapore district in the wee hours Friday derailing 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound express train, five of which were hit by a goods train, leaving 148 dead and over 200 injured.
