Government Railway Police (GRP) and Bangladesh Railway investigators made contradictory claims about the 3,510 sleeper clips stolen from train lines in the capital. The GRP investigators claimed that thieves took at least two to three days to steal the clips while Bangladesh Railway investigators claim the theft was committed overnight.
A three-member committee of Bangladesh Railway headed by its engineering chief was formed Friday to investigate the theft of the clips from rail lines between Banani and Cantonment stations. The GRP is also investigating the incident.
GRP investigators said if the key-men, people engaged in patrolling the railway lines, did their duty timely the theft would have been detected earlier while Bangladesh Railway investigators claimed their people did their jobs timely.
However, they both agree that an organised gang stole the clips.
Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of GRP, told The Daily Star, "It is impossible to remove the clips overnight dodging the eyes of people in an area where there are Bangladesh Navy personnel on one side, Army personnel on the other and Dhaka Metropolitan Police on duty in between."
He suspects that people of Bangladesh Railway and Max Automobiles, a subcontractor of a railway project, were involved in the theft that took at least two to three days to complete.
However, Bangladesh Railway Engineering Chief Abul Kashem told The Daily Star, "We are sure that the thieves took no more than two to three hours to remove the clips using six to seven men.”
"Today, on the first day of our investigation, we practically verified whether it was possible to remove the clips within two to three hours," he said.
He said an organised gang committed the theft and the clips were transported by pick-up trucks or other motorised vehicles as the clips should weigh no less than three tonnes.
He said there are 22 Permanent Way Inspectors (PWI) of Bangladesh Railway and every PWI has 12-15 key-men. Every key-man examines about 12 kilometres of train lines on foot.
Replying to a question, he said, "We must investigate whether people from Bangladesh Railway and the sub-contractor company Max Automobile were involved in the theft."
GRP personnel arrested Delwar Hossain Saturday night. Security guard of Max Automobiles Saiful Islam, Swapan, Liton, Abul Hossain and Jamal were arrested in this connection earlier and all six were placed on a two-day remand yesterday.
Swapan already confessed to receiving Tk 1,000 for the job from another arrestee, Saiful.
Bangladesh Railway sources said they have installed over 2,700 of the missing clips and the rest would be installed within two days.