Koteshwar Rao denies Maoist hand in Gyaneshwari Express disaster
By ANITuesday, June 22, 2010
Kolkata, June 22 (ANI): Maoists leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao has asserted that his group was not involved in the Gyaneshwari Express train disaster.
On May 28, the Mumbai bound Gyaneshwari Express train was derailed and collided with a goods train following a blast triggered by Maoist supporters in West Bengal’s West Midnapore District.
Over 150 people were killed in the incident.
Rao also claimed that the people who were involved in causing the incident have no relationship with his group.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, he alleged that though the CPI (Maoists) repeatedly said that it has no hand in the disaster, the police were “cooking up stories.”
“We are fighting for the people and we will not do anything at their cost,” Rao said.
After the arrest of one of the main accused in the train disaster, Bapi Mahto from a guesthouse in Jharkhand’s Sarikela-Kharswan District on Sunday, Maoist spokesman Akash has stated that Maoists did not kill innocent people and were not involved in the disaster.
Maoists now say that Mahto did not belong to their group. (ANI)
