Odisha Train Accident: Railway Staffers Under CBI Scanner; Cellphones Seized

Bhubaneswar: Railway employees are under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the June 2 triple train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district in which 288 people were killed and over 1,000 injured.

On Wednesday, CBI sleuths along with technical as well as forensic team visited Bahanaga Bazar accident site and seized cellphones of some railway staffers. The call records, WhatsApp calls and social media chats of these staffers are being collected, sources said.

This was the third visit of the CBI team to the spot, where they spent around 45 minutes.

Sources also claimed that the CBI officials are likely to interrogate the loco pilots of Coromandel Express. Hazari Behera, the 36-year-old assistant loco pilot who was helming the Coromandel Express and escaped from the jaws of death, had confirmed that  he got a green signal.

The Railway Board has also given a clean chit to Behera, saying that train was within its speed limit and did not jump any signal, after preliminary investigation pointed at some ‘signalling interference’ which made Coromandel take the loop line where the goods train was parked.

He is currently admitted to a privately-run hospital in Bhubaneswar.

The central agency started its investigation on Tuesday based on an initial FIR registered by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Balasore police station. A 10-member team visited the Bahanaga railway station, its panel room, record room and relay room, and spoke to staff present there.

It has also filed a case against unknown persons under IPC sections 304 A (death by negligence), 337 (negligent and rash act endangering human life), 338 (causing grievous hurt) and 34 (act with common intention). Sections of the Railway Act 1989 have also been invoked, including 153 (wilful neglect endangering safety of persons travelling in railways), 154 (endangering safety of persons travelling in railway by rash negligent act or omission) and 175 (any railway servant on duty endangering the safety of any person).

All sections pertain to negligence and not a single relates to sabotage or conspiracy despite indication by Railway officials that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, could have led to the accident involving the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, and a goods train.