CBI arrests 3 railway employees in connection with Balasore train accident

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested three employees of the Indian Railways in connection with deadly train accident near Balasore in Odisha last month that killed more than 293 people, and left over 1,200 injured.

Arrested persons are Arun Kumar Mahanta, who worked as a senior sectional engineer in Balasore; Mohammed Amir Khan posted as a sectional engineer in Soro; and technician Pappu Kumar, who worked in Balasore.

All three have been arrested under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence).

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This was the first arrest made by the CBI, which was probing the possibility of a criminal conspiracy into the accident.

Sources say the investigation has revealed that the actions of these three employees allegedly lead to the accident, and they have been charged for culpable homicide not amounting to murder as "they had knowledge" that their actions would result in this tragedy but not the 'intent'.

On June 2, a triple-train accident involving Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express and an iron ore-laden goods train took place in the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odisha’s Balasore district, resulting in the death of 293 and injuring over 1,200 passengers.

Commissioner of Railway Safety A M Chowdhary of South-Eastern zone, who was also probing the accident, had last month in his report submitted to the Railway Board flagged human error of workers in the signalling department as responsible for it.

"Lapses at multiple levels in the S&T department were responsible for this (Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express) accident. Some of these lapses included wrong labelling of wires," the CRS learnt to have said in its report.

The CRS report noted that the accident happened due to certain “lapses in the signalling circuit alteration” at a north signal cabin of the Bahanaga Bazaar railway station. During probe, the report said irregularities in the execution of signalling work linked to the replacement of the electric lifting barrier at the level crossing gate 94 were allegedly detected.

However, the Railway Board decided not to make public the CRS probe report to ensure that there is no “influence or interference” on the CBI’s ongoing investigation in the case.

Following the accident, the Railway Board transferred several officers from the South Eastern Zone. The General Manager of South Eastern Railway, Archana Joshi, was recently removed from her post almost a month after the three-train accident, and Anil Kumar Mishra took over the role.