Police today claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the Gyaneshwari Express derailment case by arresting a person they described as a "key conspirator".
Samir Mahato was arrested from Kusumdinga village in Manikpara area of Jhargram last night, a CID source said.
Describing Mahato as a "key conspirator" in the Gyaneshwari Express derailment on May 28 in which 148 people were killed, the source said that he guarded the railway tracks while other "saboteurs" unhooked the pendrol clips from the rails.
"We hope to get vital information from the arrested. We are yet to interrogate him. He has just been arrested and will be produced at a Jhargram court today," the source said.
This is the second arrest after Khagen Mahato, who carried the alleged saboteurs in his van, was nabbed by the CID from Kharagpur in East Midnapore district last Friday.
Thirteen coaches of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express had derailed, five of which were crushed by a goods train coming from the opposite direction in the night of May 28, killing 148 people.
