Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran has said the Union government will consider handing over the Nilambur train sabotage attempt case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) only if the State government approaches it with a request.
He, however, said the present situation did not warrant an NIA investigation into the incident in which the brake pipes of a passenger train halted at the Nilambur station were sawed by miscreants under cover of darkness on Thursday.
Speaking to presspersons after visiting the Nilambur railway station on Sunday, Mr. Ramachandran said he was happy with the investigation of the State police. “The inquiry is in the right direction,” he said.
The State police had constituted a joint team of local people, the Crime Branch and the Railway Police to investigate the case. Mr. Ramachandran said the sabotage attempt at Nilambur could not be viewed lightly. The incident was never accidental, he said.
The involvement of an expert hand could not be ruled out. “What we need now is a comprehensive and thorough investigation,” he said.
Mr. Ramachandran, however, said he would not be able to comment on the involvement of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the Nilambur incident. “I cannot comment on it now,” he said.
He said the circumstances that led to the killing of a few Keralite extremists while trying to cross the country's border in Kashmir should be investigated. “It is clear that they went to Kashmir not to protect the interests of the country,” he said.
