HYDERABAD: The parcel in the Darbhanga blast case, which was sent from Secunderabad railway station, was booked by a private agency which has a lease of an entire van, officials from the Railways said. Meanwhile, as a security measure, the railway station will have around 50 more CC cameras, in addition to the 92 that are already in place. Officials have also proposed a parcel scanner.
An incident like this has occurred for the first time and special drives are being conducted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), officials revealed, adding that they do take details and personal information like a valid ID proof of the sender, which helped in identifying the individual who had sent this parcel.
Speaking of the short-term and long-term measures in the wake of the blast, an officer from Government Railway Police said that they will be conducting random checks at the station, verifying the parcels physically and also run checks with a dog squad on a daily basis, as opposed to once a week earlier.
“Long-term measures would be to hold a meeting with private agencies that lease parcel vans and asking them to follow similar guidelines. We will be notified for assistance if they sense or suspect foul-play. We are also proposing to the authorities to provide a parcel scanner,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
An official from South Central Railway (SCR) explained that theoried being floated regarding the explosion are highly unrealistic as there is considerable gap between the parcel van and passengers coaches.
“There are four parcel vans and the senders will not know in which one his parcel will end up in. Even if the explosion occurs, the impact will not reach a passenger coach. Moreover, each station has an observer, who on suspecting foul-play immediately notifies authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile, RPF is also conducting special drives.
