The Kanpur train accident in which 150 people were killed was a “conspiracy” and the perpetrators carried it out “sitting across the border” in Nepal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.
Addressing an election meeting in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh, which is close to the India-Nepal border, he touched upon the derailment of 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express, near Pukhraya in Kanpur Dehat district on November 20, and said the probe findings showed it was a “conspiracy.”
“The Kanpur rail accident, in which hundreds of people were killed was a conspiracy and the conspirators carried it out sitting across the border... Gonda is adjoining Nepal,” he said.
“If the cross-border foes want to carry out their work, is it not necessary that more vigil is maintained in Gonda,” he asked the people, urging them to vote for the BJP.
‘Elect patriots’
“Gonda needs to elect only those who are full of patriotism. Only then can we do anything good for Gonda,” he said.
“There should not be any mistake in this election... be it the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party, not a single seat should go to them... 100 per cent seats should be won by the BJP,” he said.
Nepalese national Shamshul Hoda, an alleged ISI agent and the prime suspect in the Kanpur train accident, was arrested on February 7 in Kathmandu after he was deported from Dubai, the Nepal police had said.
After the November accident, at least 62 passengers were injured on December 28 when 15 coaches of the Sealdah-Ajmer Express derailed while the train was crossing a bridge near the Rura railway station in Kanpur rural district.
Buoyed by the success of the BJP in the local bodies elections in Maharashtra and other States after demonetisation, Mr. Modi said he was committed to rooting out corruption.
