A major railway disaster was averted when the Railway Police Force on Thursday arrested a person, who along with some others had removed clips from railway sleepers near Barakar railway station on the West Bengal-Jharkhand border, moments before a number of trains, including the Rajdhani Express, were to pass.

Railway sources said on Friday that an RPF patrol spotted the men removing the clips near the station falling under the Asansol division of the Eastern Railway.

The RPF could lay hands on only one of them, but by then 50 to 60 clips had been loosened.

During interrogation at Dhanbad, the man, identified as Sahidul alias Sajjad Ali of Kureshipara in Gomoh, Jharkhand, said he belonged to the Students Islamic Movement of India.

He said a one-time active member of SIMI, Shahid, had recruited him in Gomoh. Police later arrested Shahid.