Police in a drive arrested seven people including a ward councillor of Gazipur city in a case filed with casualties and damage following the derailment of Dhaka-bound Mohanganj Express train at the Bankharia (Chilai River) bridge of Gazipur on the Dhaka-Mymensingh railway on December 13.

The arrestees were identified as Hasan Ajmal Bhuiya, no 28 ward councillor of Gazipur city corporation, Sohel Rana, Jannatul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Julkar Naim Ashrafi, Shahanur Alam and Saidul Islam.

All of them were current and former leaders and activists of BNP and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.

In a press briefing, Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) Commissioner Mahbub Alam, said the arrestees thronged the house of councillor Ajmal Bhuiya and held a meeting to carry out sabotage activities.

The arrestees in a planned way uprooted the rail sleepers using gas cylinder for two hours at the dead night on Wednesday, he said.

After the incident, police said that oxyacetylene and methane gas were used to cut the railway tracks. Someone skilled in such work was hired from outside Gazipur.

On early Wednesday, miscreants in Gazipur used gas cutters to cut and uproot about 20 feet of the rail line on the Dhaka-Mymensingh railway line for sabotage.

In this incident, the Mohanganj Express train, traveling from Mohanganj in Netrokona to Dhaka, derailed while crossing that area, causing six coaches along with the engine of the train to fall from the railway line onto the low ground. 

A chicken trader died, while 10 people, including the train driver and his assistant, were injured. 

The case was filed on Thursday afternoon.