Experts to help CBI in train mishap probe
NEW DELHI/BALASORE: A CBI team on Tuesday began an investigation into allegations of criminal negligence leading to the Balasore railway accident involving three trains, with officials saying the agency may take views of rail safety experts to get to the bottom of the case.
A team of six CBI officials led by Joint Director Special Crime Viplav Kumar Choudhry reached the accident site at Bahanaga Bazar Railway Station on Tuesday. The team was accompanied by railway officials, they said.
The team inspected the main line and loop line and also went to the signal room where it met railway officials.
The CBI will soon start questioning the officers present at the Bahanaga station including Assistant Station Master SB Mohanty and other personnel manning the signals and track upkeep, they said.
Following a mandatory notification from the Department of Personnel and Training for handing over the probe to the CBI, the central agency registered its FIR at 2.15 PM Tuesday.
The registration of an FIR is the starting point of the CBI investigation because the agency cannot collect any document or material, question witnesses, record statements or conduct searches without it, they said.
The central probe agency was roped in by the Ministry of Railways after a preliminary inquiry flagged possible tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, and officials suspected “sabotage”.
“The CBI has registered a case on the request of the Ministry of Railways, consent of the Odisha government and further orders from DoPT (Government of India) relating to the train accident involving Coromandel Express, Yashwantpur-Howrah Express and a goods train at Bahanaga Bazar in Odisha on 2nd June,” the CBI spokesperson said.
The CBI took over the FIR registered by the GRP (Govt Railway Police) Cuttack on June 3 under IPC sections 337, 338, 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention), and sections 153 (unlawful and negligent action endangering lives of Railway passengers), 154 and 175 (endangering lives) of the Railways Act.