Lucknow: The Madurai police on Monday arrested five employees of the Sitapur-based tour and travel agency who carried a gas cylinder in the ill-fated coach which caught fire, killing nine persons, on August 26.
The five accused, all residents of Sitapur, were accompanying the tourists who had availed the services of the tour operator to book the private party coach.
The accused have been identified as Shubham Kashyap (19), Narendra Kumar (61), Hardik Sahani (24), Deepak Kumar (23) and Satya Prakash (45).
The have been booked under sections 304 (II) (attracted when there is knowledge that death may be caused by one’s act), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) of the IPC and Section 164 of the Railways Act (unlawfully bringing dangerous goods on a railway).
Police said that the tour operator had been carrying cooking cylinders in trains in the past too.
A survivor, Shiv Pratap Singh (65), who lost his wife Mithlesh Kumari (62), said that the tour operator also carried cylinders during their previous trips to Jagannath Puri, Pashupatinath, Vaishno Devi, Badrinath, and Dwarika.
Meanwhile, seven more passengers reached Lucknow on Monday morning. All passengers from UP who have survived the tragedy have now returned home.
“The five arrested are employees of the Sitapur’s Bhasin Tour and Travels. The owner of the tour company Harish Bhasin (60) died in the fire that broke out in the compartment,” a government officer coordinating with the Madurai police.
Total 63 people – 55 passengers and eight helpers – were onboard the private coach which had left Lucknow on August 17. They were on a 13-day pilgrimage and were scheduled to visit Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai and proceed to Rameswaram before returning to UP.
However, on August 26, some of the passengers used the cooking gas cylinder in the coach. The flames quickly engulfed the compartment, causing panic and chaos among the occupants. Nine persons were killed in the incident.
