CBI chargesheets 3 railway officials for Balasore mishap
New Delhi, September 2
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against three arrested railway officials for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence in connection with the June 2 Balasore (Odisha) train accident.
The CBI had arrested the three officials — Senior Section Engineer (Signals) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Amir Khand and Technician Pappu Kumar, all posted in Balasore district — on July 7 in connection with its probe into the accident involving three trains that left 296 dead and 1,200 injured.
The mishap took place on June 2, when the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary freight train at the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, and some of its derailed coaches fell onto the adjacent tracks and collided with the oncoming Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express. In its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court in Bhubaneswar, the CBI has charged the accused under Sections 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 read with 201 (common cause read with destruction of evidence) of the IPC and Section 153 of the Railways Act. The CBI has alleged the repair work at the level crossing gate number 94 near Bahanaga Bazar station was done by Mahanta using the circuit diagram of level crossing of a different gate – No. 79, officials said.
The duty of the accused was to ensure that testing, overhauling and carrying out alterations to the existing signal and interlocking installations were in accordance with the approved plan and instructions which he did not do.
