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CBI arrests 3 railway employeesover Balasore train tragedy
Three railway employees have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the train accident in Odisha's Balasore district on 2 June. The employees are being charged with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" and "destruction of evidence". The crash, involving three trains, resulted in the deaths of 293 people. The CBI is investigating any potential criminal angle to the incident. The Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) has said that faulty signalling due to two botched repair works led to the collision.
New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested three railway employees for “their action that led to the June 2 train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district”, according to officials familiar with the matter, who said new charges related to “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” and “destruction of evidence” have now been invoked
The federal agency is probing the criminal angle into the crash that involved three trains and has claimed the lives of 293 people in what was the deadliest Railways tragedy in three decades.
The arrested employees have been identified as Arun Kumar Mahanta, senior section engineer (Signals), Mohammad Amir Khan, section engineer, and Pappu Kumar, technician, who are all posted in Balasore district and were taken into custody by CBI’s special crimes zone unit after questioning.
The agency did not divulge the precise role they are being prosecuted for but an officer aware of the matter said “they were arrested for their action which led to the horrific incident”.
While the investigation has been looking at all possible angles, including sabotage, the sections invoked previously pertained to causing death by negligence. The new sections invoked, 304 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, are more stringent.
“The FIR was re-registered based on Odisha Police’s case, a procedure followed by the CBI usually in all cases handed over by the state governments or the Centre. Any additional charges are added, or existing ones are removed after taking proper legal opinion and based on available evidence,” said the officer cited above.
The CBI action comes three days after the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) submitted findings in which it said faulty signalling due to two botched repair works, including one in 2018 and the other hours before the accident, had led to the Coromandel Express being sent on a collision course with a goods train on another track.
The CRS noted that the June 2 tragedy could have potentially been avoided had repeated glitches with the local signalling system been flagged, which could have led signalling and track staff to trace the mistake made in 2018.
“The rear-collision (of Coromandel Express) was due to the lapses in the signalling-circuit-alteration carried out… in the past and during the execution of the signalling work related to replacement of electric lifting barrier for level crossing gate number 94 at the station,” said the CRS report, which HT has seen.
CBI probe is looking into any “attempt”, “abetment” and/or “conspiracy” behind the incident.
The accident occurred at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore around 6.56pm on June 2, when the Coromandel Express rammed into a freight train with iron ore. The impact of the collision flung compartments into the adjacent track and some of these coaches hit the last two cars of the Howrah-bound Yesvantpur Express, which was passing by on the opposite line at the same time.
The resulting carnage led to the deaths of 293 people and critical injuries to scores more.
