Three railway staffers held for Surat track tampering

The trackmen wanted credit for averting mishap; police got suspicious after being told a train had passed shortly before the trio reported sabotage

Three railway employees were arrested in Surat district on Monday for alleged track tampering and then alerting authorities about a "sabotage attempt" to take credit for averting a possible tragedy, a police official said.

The three, identified as Subhash Poddar (39), Manish Mistry (28) and Shubham Jaiswal (26), are trackmen in the railways' maintenance department, superintendent of police Hotesh Joysar said.