Twin blasts occurred on coaches not manned by TTE

“Investigators are trying hard to identify the unauthorised persons who had boarded the train”

In a stunning revelation, it is now known that the twin blasts on the Bangalore-Guwahati Express here on Thursday occurred in coaches unmanned by any Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) between Jolarpet and Chennai Central.

Hence, investigators are trying hard to identify the unauthorised persons who had boarded the train, sources in the Crime Branch CID said on Saturday.

Police probes revealed that six TTEs boarded the train in Bangalore on the night of April 30, and three of them had got down at Jolarpet.

Sleeper-Class coaches S-3, S-4 and S-5 were left with no TTE till the train reached Chennai Central the next morning. “We have information that many unauthorised persons boarded the train without a confirmed or reserved ticket. They slept along the aisle or near the toilet of these coaches. Since their names or addresses were not available, we are finding it difficult to identify them,” a CB-CID official told 

The Hindu . Random enquiry

It was during a random enquiry with some of the passengers who travelled in the affected coaches that the police came to know of unauthorised persons on the train.

Two bombs later exploded in quick succession, killing a woman and injuring 14 others.

Portraits developed Investigators have developed two portraits of persons who were found to be moving in a suspicious manner at the Chennai Central and Bangalore railway stations.

While one man was seen running out of the coach soon after the train arrived in Chennai on May 1, the other was seen walking towards the train before it left Bangalore.

“The man in Bangalore is seen carrying a baggage and he consciously covers his face to avoid being caught by the CCTV…,” the official said.