Odisha train tragedy: CBI arrests three Indian railway officials
Odisha train accident
India’s premier investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Friday, arrested three people responsible for the Odisha train accidents that caused the death of 293 people and left over 1,000 injured.
The three railway officials who have been arrested are senior section engineer Arun Kumar Mohanta, section engineer Mohammad Amir Khan and technician Pappu Kumar.
According to reports, these three were aware that their actions might lead to this tragedy.
They have been arrested under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender).
Last week, the Commission ofRailway Safety (CRS) that was probing the incident flagged that human error in railway signalling system led to one of the deadliest railway crashes in India's history.
The committee foundthat the train accident occurred after workers repairing the railroad barrier made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network. It also found “lapses at multiple levels” which led to the death of at least 293 people and injured more than 1,000.
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What caused the Odisha train crash?
Human error
The report said thatthe wires in the level-crossing location box were labelled incorrectly and remained undetected for years that led to a mix-up during maintenance work and added that the accident could have been avoided if the red flags had not been ignored.
The Indian Railways’ Signal and Telecommunication (S&T) department has reportedly been found primarily responsible for the incident.
Additionally, the report found the station master, a part of the operations department, responsible for not being able to detect the “abnormal behaviour” of the automated signalling system.
The CRS investigators also said that the first of the three collisions that occurred on June 2 was due to the recent repair work conducted at the signalling circuit to fix frequent problems at a nearby railroad.
They also highlighted negligence on the part of a few ground officials who did not follow adequate safety procedures of inspection, particularly after changes were made in the design due to safety concerns three years ago.
Also read |Here’s how Odisha trains collision occurred: Indian railway officials give minute-by-minute details
Thereport, which wassubmitted to the Railway Board, pointed out that regardless of the lapses in the signalling system, the S&T department could have spotted "repeated unusual behaviour" of switches connecting two parallel tracks provided they were reported by the station manager of Bahanaga Bazar, the spot of the accident.
This is a developing story. More updates will be added soon.
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