ISI agent Shamshul Huda, prime suspect in Kanpur train derailment, arrested in Nepal

Kathmandu: A special team of the Nepal Police has arrested one of the key suspects of a train derailment in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, which took place last year.

Pakistan's snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) Dubai-based agent Shamshul Huda is also a known operative of fake Indian currency and has a network in Nepal.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday confirmed Huda's arrest.

Huda was arrested along with three others as soon as he landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport yesterday, said Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Pashupati Upadhyaya.

"We have heard that Huda is wanted in a railway accident that took place in Kanpur last year killing 150 people," Upadhyaya said.

"Nepal Police will also work in close coordination with the Indian Police for Huda's alleged involvement in criminal activities in India," he said.

The three others arrested are identified as Brij Kishor Giri, Ashish Singh, and Umesh Kumar Kurmi, all from Kalaiya district in southern Nepal.

The police have brought Huda and three other accused criminals to Nepal from Dubai in coordination with the Interpol, Upadhyaya told PTI.

Huda is the mastermind of a twin murder in Bara district of Nepal, the police said.

Huda has links with international criminal groups and he has been involved in a number of criminal activities in Nepal and India, Upadhyaya said.

A case has already been registered against him in Bara District Court, he added.

Meanwhile, a senior NIA official told news agency IANS on the condition of anonymity that the agency is in touch with the Nepalese authority to seek access for his questioning.

Notably, the NIA is investigating the role of ISI in the derailment of Indore-Patna Express train on November 20 last year in Kanpur in which 150 people lost their lives. The agency is also probing into the train derailments in Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar's Ghorasahan case in which an IED was found near a rail track.

The Bihar Police had earlier arrested three suspected criminals -- Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar Patel, and Mukesh Yadav -- in connection with the case and had claimed that ISI had conspired to carry out a spate of train derailments in India.

During interrogation, the Bihar Police said that the three accused confessed to receiving Rs 3 lakh from Nepal citizen Brajesh Giri, who is allegedly connected with the ISI, for planting the bomb on rail tracks at Ghorasahan in East Champaran district on October 1 last year to cause an accident. The tragedy was, however, averted.

The police said Paswan revealed during interrogation that the money was routed through Shamshul Huda to carry out the derailments.

(With Agency inputs)