Train accidents: The desperate search for a sabotage theory ends in YouTuber Gulzar Sheikh

At least 17 lives have been lost in train accidents in India in the last 42 days, with the latest mishap reported on the morning of Tuesday, July 30, near Barabamboo in Jharkhand in Eastern Railway’s Chakradharpur division. 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed when its engine brushed against a portion of a goods train which too had jumped tracks a few minutes ago, killing two and injuring at least 20.

Prior to that, on June 18, the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed near Gonda in Uttar Pradesh claiming four lives and leaving over 40 injured. The accident occurred at Pikaura, halfway between Gonda and Jhilahi.

Just a day before that, on June 17, a goods train hit the Kanchanjunga Express travelling from Agartala to Sealdaha, near New Jalpaiguri in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal resulting in the derailment of two coaches of the passenger train. At least 11 people were killed and 60 injured.

A number of accidents were reported in October-November, 2023. The worst of them on October 29 when the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train rammed into the stationary Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger at Kantakapalli station on the Howrah-Chennai line in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, resulting in the derailment of four bogies. At least 11 lives were lost and 60 people injured. Earlier that month, four people were killed and 40 injured as the North East Superfast Express derailed near the Raghunathpur railway station in Bihar’s Buxar district on October 11.

These accidents were reported at a time when the memory of the Odisha train mishap — one of the deadliest in India’s history — was still fresh in everyone’s mind. At least 293 passengers were killed and 1,100 injured on June 2, 2023, when the Chennai-bound Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express hit an iron ore-laden stationary goods train derailing 10 to 12 coaches of Coromandel which fell over on another track. The Bengal-bound Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, plying on that line, subsequently collided with those coaches, derailing three to four of its own coaches. The accident took place near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Balasore on the Kharagpur–Puri line under South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur division.

Often after these accidents, sabotage and conspiracy theories have been floated on social media. For example, within hours of the Balasore tragedy, a section of the Right Wing gave it a communal spin by highlighting the day of the occurrence of the mishap — it was a Friday — and the alleged existence of a mosque near the accident site. Alt News found in its probe that the building described as a mosque was actually an ISKCON temple. Days later, it was again claimed that the station master’s name was Sharif and he had been absconding. Both the claims were found to be false by Alt News.

‘Rail Jihadi Gulzar Sheikh’

On August 1, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala tweeted about a person named Gulzar Sheikh who, Poonawala claimed, put “stones, cycles, obstacles on rail tracks”. “Identify these anti nationals who create railway accidents… God knows who all and how many such elements are doing it to cause train accidents.” he wrote in his tweet which contained visuals of a man carrying and placing objects such as a bicycle and a small cylinder near a railway track.

Identify these anti nationals who create railway accidents

There have been several instances of sabotage / signals being covered with paper/ deliberate obstacles being put on tracks

Look at Gulzar Sheikh.. putting stones, cycles, obstacles on rail tracks

God knows who all… pic.twitter.com/2CMg6E0Mfc

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) August 1, 2024

Squint Neon on X, who uses his social media handles to amplify communal hate and harass interfaith couples, tweeted the video of the same man placing a bicycle on rail tracks and wrote, “Will @Uppolice arrest Gulzar Shaikh for planning & instigating railway accidents across the country?”

Will @Uppolice arrest Gulzar Shaikh for planning & instigating railway accidents across the country? pic.twitter.com/tcHDWm4WME

— Squint Neon (@TheSquind) August 1, 2024

While both these users directly claimed that Gulzar Sheikh or the likes of them were causing train accidents across the country, others also tweeted the same clips and photos of Sheikh with less direct claims. An X handle named Trains of India was one of them. This user said Sheikh, who hailed from Lalgopalganj in Uttar Pradesh, was putting the lives of thousands in danger.

This is Mr Gulzar Sheikh from Lalgopalganj, UP who puts random things Infront of trains for YouTube Money, He is putting lives of 1000s of passengers in danger.
Strict action should be taken against him, @RailwayNorthern @rpfnr_ @drm_lko Sharing all the information Below👇 pic.twitter.com/g8ZipUdbL6

— Trains of India (@trainwalebhaiya) July 31, 2024

Among other who tweeted on this was Amitabh Chaudhary, who amplifies communal propaganda on a regular basis. He wrote that what the likes of Sheikh did was in known as an act of terrorism in a civilized world.

Subsequently, an X user named Legal Hindu Defence (@legalhindudef) which describes itself as a ‘Volunteer legal group’ filing ‘cases on Hindu hate’, tweeted that a police complaint had been filed against Sheikh. In another tweet about Sheikh’s activities, they wrote, “पहले लव जिहाद, फिर थूक जिहाद और अब रेल जिहाद❗️अपने मज़े के लिए ये “72” तरीकों से जिहाद की खोज पर निकले हैं”. [First Love Jihad, then Thook Jihad, now Rail Jihad. For his own fun, he is in search of ’72’ ways of jihad.]

The official X handle of DCP Ganganagar under Prayagraj commissionerate tweeted on August 1 that an FIR (No. 233/2024) under Section 147/145/153 of the Railway Act had been registered by the Railway Protection Force in this regard and the accused was arrested by Nawabganj police. Poonawala also tweeted about the arrest saying, “Rail Jihadi in jail now”.

Done ✔️ Rail Jihadi in jail now 🙏 https://t.co/8c9dngp9I1 pic.twitter.com/ApbIik5ePm

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) August 1, 2024

The Union ministry of railways, too, tweeted about Sheikh’s arrest and his photos, urging people to report such behaviour.

सभी से अपील है कि कोई भी ऐसी गतिविधि करता दिखे तो उसे तुरंत रोकें एवं रेलवे या लोकल पुलिस को सूचित कर देश सेवा का कार्य करें।
भारतीय रेल की ओर से जन हित में जारी। pic.twitter.com/E2sBJI8I1K

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) August 2, 2024

Did Gulzar Sheikh Cause Train Accidents?

No.

According to reports, Sheikh was arrested from his home in Khandrauli village in Kaurihar Block of Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh. We checked his Facebook page and saw that multiple videos were posted from Lalgopalganj, which is about 13 km from Khandrauli. The tweet by Trains of India, too, identified the location of several of Sheikh’s videos as Lalgopalganj railway station, which is under the Lucknow-Charbagh division of Northern Railway.

We looked for reports of train accident from this area since January 2024 (this is when the YouTube channel was created) and did not find any.

However, according to the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966, “if any railway servant (whether on duty or otherwise) or any other person obstructs or causes to be obstructed or attempts to obstruct any train or other rolling stock upon a railway by squatting or picketing or during any rail roko agitation or bandh; or by keeping without authority any rolling stock on the railway… He shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both.”

Besides, The Railways Act, 1989, says in Section 150, “if any person unlawfully puts or throws upon or across any railway, any wood, stone or other matter or thing… or does or causes to be done or attempts to do any other act or thing in relation to any railway, with intent or with knowledge that he is likely to endanger the safety of any person travelling on or being upon the railway, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years.”

Hence, prima facie, there is ample ground for the law enforcement agencies to take action against Sheikh. The charges pressed against him pertain to “entering upon or into any part of a railway without lawful authority”, “wilfully or without excuse interfering with any amenity provided by the railway administration so as to affect the comfortable travel of any passenger” and “by any unlawful act or by any wilful omission or neglect, endangering or causing to be endangered the safety of any person travelling in railway”. The first two offenses are punishable with one to six months’ imprisonment and fine of Rs 100 to 500. The third entails imprisonment up to five years.

However, to set the narrative that it was act of ‘Jihad’ and that Gulzar Sheikh or the likes of him was “planning & instigating railway accidents across the country” or to claim that “he was an anti-national who create rail accidents” or his activities pertained to “terrorism”, and the collective social media clamor to slap the National Security Act against him seem exaggerations meant to divert the attention from the real reasons behind frequent train accidents in this country.

Was a Single Recent Train Accident Caused by an Object on the tracks?

No.

Alt News went through several reports on the investigations into each of the recent train accidents. According to information available at this point, none of them was caused by an object placed on the tracks.

The Balasore accident, the deadliest in recent times, was caused by a combination of technical and human errors. According to the report of the commissioner of railway safety (CRS), south eastern circle, “lapses” at various levels in the signal and telecommunication department were responsible for the mishap accident. The report also states, “Notwithstanding the lapses in signalling work, if the SM/BNBR [station master] had informed the repeated unusual behaviour of the crossover 17 A/B [the loop line—main UP line interface] to the S & T staff, they could have traced the false feed extending to the EI logic for the circuit for crossover 17 A/B.” This essentially suggests that though the primary reason was a fault in signalling, the station master, too, was partially at fault. However, officials and sources Frontline spoke to told the magazine that “this was a tall order: Station Masters were too overburdened to stretch themselves to do more…”

Significantly, Page 38 of the report states, “It is also learned from the PCSTE/SER’s letter that there was a similar incident of mismatch between the intended route set by signals and the actual route taken by the train on 16.05.2022 at BKNM (Bankra Nayabaj) station in the Kharagpur division of South Eastern Railway, due to wrong wiring and cable fault. Had corrective measures been taken after this accident to address the issue of wrong-wiring, the accident at BNBR (Bahanaga Bazar) would not have taken place.”

The CRS report into the Kanchenjunga Express accident in North Bengal stated that the mishap was ‘waiting to happen’ because of multiple lapses in train operations management in automatic signal zones and ‘inadequate counselling’ of loco pilots and station masters.

Preliminary inquiry by the CRS found that a “wrong paper authority or TA 912 to cross defective signals had been issued to the loco pilot of the goods train involved in the crash. The paper authority failed to specify the speed the goods train should adhere to while crossing the defective signal.” [TA 912 is a type of a on-paper order issued by railway authorities to loco pilots in case of a signal failure. This document authorizes the pilot to cross a red signal, which would otherwise indicate that the train must stop.]

In case of the Andhra Pradesh accident in October 2023, the CRS report blamed “systemic safety lapses, including the failure of the anti-telescopic features in the coaches of both trains and the malfunctioning of an automatic signalling system.”

There was no mention of any object placed on the tracks as a possible reason for these accidents. After the Odisha tragedy, Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai told BBC, “A train can derail for a number of reasons – “a track could be ill-maintained, a coach could be faulty, and there could be an error in driving”.” Digital news platform Indiaspend asked Swapnil Garg, professor of strategy management at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, what could cause derailments. He replied, “One particular incident cannot cause a derailment. It has to be a combination of three, four or five different mistakes before a derailment happens. When there is a signalling failure, mechanical failures and civil engineering failures, we find that these collectively result in a derailment.”

In view of this, the massive hullabaloo around Gulzar Sheikh’s mindless videos and the concerted campaign leading to his arrest seem not only an exaggeration, but also a case of misplaced priority. What appears far more pressing is holding the authorities responsible for the ‘systemic lapses’ underlined time and time again by the inquiries into the recent accidents. On the other hand, a far easier thing to do, particularly if one is holding a brief to save the image of the government, is floating a sabotage theory and finding a scapegoat. Gulzar Sheikh fits the bill perfectly.

Is Gulzar Sheikh the Only Such Content Creator?

No.

Alt News found that there were hundreds of railway-related channels on YouTube and several of them posted content similar to the page run by Sheikh. A channel named Super Express posts videos by placing objects like tooth paste, candy, chocolates, green chilies on the tracks. Another channel named Rj Facts has almost 80,000 viewers and posts short videos exclusively on placing objects railway tracks. The objects in the case of this creator include chocolate bars, lozenges and biscuits. Such YouTube channels are not limited to India. An US-based page named Train Experiments posts similar videos and has 75,000 subscribers.

Another channel named IND Vlogs posted a video June 11, 2018 which, unlike most of the videos in the above channels, actually shows some stones being crushed under moving train wheels. The short video has garnered 10 Lakh views.

Alt News Examined Sheikh’s Videos

Gulzar Sheikh has a YouTube channel GULZAR INDIAN HACKER. It has 2,36,000 subscribers and 4 videos at the moment. As many as 218 videos were deleted on August 2, most of them showing him placing objects on railway tracks. The following screenshot taken on August 1 shows 222 videos.

The ‘About’ section of the channel says “Since Experiment video Banata hu all Experiment Ye video kewal naram cheej rakh ta hu Aur kadak cheej nahi rakh ta hu.” [Since I make experiment videos, these are all experiments. I only keep soft objects. I do not put hard objects (on the tracks)].

We watched at least 20 videos posted by Sheikh before they had been deleted. Not a single video we watched actually showed a train passing over an object placed on the tracks. In every video, the creator places something on the tracks and then steps back. And then there is a cut after which a train can be seen coming down the tracks. In the following video which shows him placing a few eggs on the track, there is a cut at the 0.32-minute mark. Then the train appears. After it leaves, there is no sign of the eggs, smashed or whole.

The cycle video and the cylinder video, which raised the maximum number of eyebrows, were no different. At no point, did they show a train hitting these objects or these object actually lying on the tracks when the train arrives. The condition of the cycle seen at the end of the video makes it apparent that it was not hit by the train. It remains in tact with its paddles functioning. Here is a screen recording of the now-deleted video:

The 53-second clip that users like Squint Neon or Trains of India tweeted shows Sheikh placing or trying to place several objects on the tracks — the cycle, a few stones, a small cylinder (which he can’t place on the tracks because of its shape), a slab of stone or concrete, a bar of dishwashing soap and a chicken with its legs tied. Only the soap bar is seen in the video coming under a moving train. It splinters off in the impact. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wants you to believe it is an act of terrorism the likes of which cause frequent train accidents in India.

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