Balasore Train Accident: CBI arrested three, 292 were killed in the accident

CBI has taken major action in the Odisha train accident case. The CBI has arrested three railway officials on Friday. Senior Engineer Arun Kumar Mahant, Section Engineer Mohammad Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar have been arrested by the CBI.

culpable homicide not amounting to murder

The three officers have been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence). The CBI will now interrogate the three arrested officers.

These flaws were found in the investigation report

A Commission of Railway Safety inquiry into the Coromandel Express accident on 2 June near Balasore had found that the tragedy could have been avoided if warnings had not been ignored. It was found that the wiring inside the level-crossing location box had been wired incorrectly and went undetected for years, causing a disturbance during its maintenance work.

Sources in the Railway Board had told The Indian Express that the probe found that the signaling maintainer had issued a ‘reconnection memo’, implying that the electronic interlocking signaling system was live after the maintenance work was completed. Sources said the safety protocol of testing the signaling system before allowing the train to pass was not followed.

However, according to officials associated with the case, the Railways has not made public the CRS probe report on the Balasore triple train accident. This has been done to ensure that there is no impact or interference with the ongoing CBI investigation in the matter.

292 passengers died on the spot

A total of 2,296 passengers were traveling in Howrah Superfast Express and Coromandel Express. A total of 292 passengers have died tragically in this accident. Doctors declared 211 passengers dead on the spot. The rest of the passengers were declared brought dead during treatment in different hospitals.