Shillong, July 8: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three Indian Railways employees in connection with the tragic train accident in Odisha’s Balasore last month, which claimed the lives of over 293 people and left more than 1,000 injured. The CBI was investigating the possibility of a criminal conspiracy behind the accident.
The arrested individuals are Senior Section Engineer (signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammed Amir Khan, and Technician Pappu Kumar. They have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence.
Sources reveal that the investigation has found their actions to be responsible for the accident. They have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder because they had knowledge that their actions could lead to this tragedy, but there was no intent to cause murder.
As per NDTV, the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), who conducted an inquiry into the accident, attributed human error by workers in the signalling department as the cause. The CRS ruled out sabotage, technical glitches, or machine faults. The CRS report highlighted negligence on the part of ground officials who failed to follow adequate safety procedures after changes were made in the design three years ago due to safety concerns.
The report emphasized that if the station manager of Bahanaga Bazar had reported the repeated unusual behavior of switches connecting the tracks, the signalling and telecommunications staff could have taken remedial action. It also mentioned a similar incident in May 2022 at Bankranayabaz station, which was caused by wrong wiring and cable faults.
The Congress party, referring to the CRS report, criticized the Narendra Modi government, alleging a compromise on railway safety. They stated that the “human error” exposed the failure of management and political leadership.