Title - Three years on, no breakthrough

CHENNAI: Sunday, April 29, marks the third anniversary of a mysterious train accident in Chennai that remains unsolved till date. An unidentified stranger, who ‘hijacked’ an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) at the Moore Market Complex (MMC), rammed it into a goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jiva Railway Station, killing four persons and injuring 11 others, in the early hours of that fateful day in 2009. Though three among the dead were identified, the identity of the fourth person, suspected to have driven the EMU, is yet to be ascertained. Except for a tattoo in Telugu� found on his hand, investigators were left with no other clue in the sensational case, which was examined from several angles — a suicide mission, act of terror, and even the handiwork of an aggrieved insider. “Since, we strongly felt that the body recovered from the crash site could be that of a man belonging to Andhra Pradesh or Odisha, almost all village panchayats in the two States were alerted,” an official with the CB-CID of the Tamil Nadu Police, that is investigating the case, said. “Three different families approached us. However, the DNA of the deceased did not match with theirs,” the official added. Hijacking the train from MMC, the stranger occupying the motorman’s cabin, drove on the ‘slow up’ track, meant for trains coming into Chennai, around 4.50 am on April 29, 2009. Railway officials blocked all signals in the area, forcing a goods train to stop at Vyasarpadi Jiva Station, before changing the track. The speeding EMU then collided with the goods train, killing some passengers and injuring a few. Meanwhile, another EMU, which was proceeding to Chennai on the same line was held up at Perambur. Had the goods train taken a� diversion, the hijacked EMU would have rammed into the other passenger train and killed hundreds.