On November 23, a 20-year-old man named Abdul Kadir Samatbrez Shaikh was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) for throwing a long iron rod onto a railway track. The incident happened on Thursday, November 21, around 8:30 pm, when a local train travelling between Santacruz and Khar Road was hit by the rod.
Shaikh had stolen a 15-foot-long iron rod with the intention of selling it to buy drugs. However, when other passengers spotted him, he got scared and decided to dump the rod on the tracks instead of selling it. The GRP later arrested him after the incident was reported.
Abdul Kadir Samatbrez Shaikh’s actions caused a dangerous situation that could have resulted in a serious accident. On the night of November 21, when the iron rod was thrown onto the tracks, it posed a major risk to the passengers aboard the local train. Fortunately, no one was injured. The motorman, Yogesh Kumar, immediately alerted the Station Master, who then contacted the Railway Police Force (RPF) to report the incident.
Following the incident, a case was registered against Shaikh under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), including Section 125(a) for endangering lives, Section 126(2) for wrongful restraint, and Section 329(3) for criminal trespass. He was also charged under Section 152 of the Railway Act, which deals with actions that harm or attempt to harm passengers travelling by train.
Shaikh was arrested after the police reviewed CCTV footage from the area. The 20-year-old is a resident of Khar West and was taken into custody for his reckless and dangerous behaviour.
This is not the first time such dangerous attempts to disrupt train services have occurred. In the past, there have been several incidents where individuals have deliberately placed obstacles, such as stones, logs, and even large metal objects, on railway tracks, putting both freight and passenger trains at risk. For instance, in September, a similar attempt was made in Uttar Pradesh when miscreants placed boulders on the tracks, narrowly avoiding a major collision. In another incident in August, unknown assailants placed an iron beam on a busy railway route in Madhya Pradesh, which was only discovered in time to prevent a catastrophe. These repeated acts of sabotage highlight the ongoing security threats to India’s vast railway network and the need for increased vigilance to prevent such incidents from happening again.
