A blast on a railway track near the Shambhu area in Punjab's Patiala was an attempted detonation and not a low-intensity explosion as initially suspected, Punjab Police said on Tuesday. Officials said the person allegedly trying to trigger the blast died during the attempt.

The explosion took place on Monday night near the Shambhu-Ambala rail track, a route dedicated to freight trains. Police earlier reported that an unidentified body, blown into pieces, had been recovered from the spot.

Investigators later found that the incident was an attempted detonation.

The blast occurred around 10 pm and caused damage to the railway track, police said.

"Late night, we had received information about a low intensity explosion at a railway track near Shambhu-Haryana border. Immediately, I, along with the deputy inspector general of police and other senior officials, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

"We found that it was not a low intensity explosion but an attempted detonation," Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said.

During the attempt, the person who was trying to carry out the detonation died, and his body has been recovered, he said.

Police also said a SIM card was recovered from the blast site.

"After getting whatever scientific evidence including a SIM card from the spot, police have launched technical investigation," Sharma said.

"We expect that we will soon unravel the whole conspiracy," he said.

He added that the Government Railway Police, the Railway Protection Force and other agencies are involved in the investigation.

Earlier in January, a blast on the dedicated freight corridor railway track in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib district near Sirhind had damaged a train engine and injured a loco pilot.