CBI all set to take over probe into Balasore train accident case

According to the procedure, the CBI re-registers the local police FIR as its own case and starts the probe. It can add or remove a charge from the FIR in its charge sheet filed after the completion of its probe.

PTI, New Delhi, Jun 5, 2023 : The CBI is all set to take over the investigation in the Balasore train accident that left at least 275 people dead and 1,100 injured, officials said.

In accordance with the procedure, the central agency will take over the Balasore GRP case number 64 registered by Odisha Police on June 3, a day after the accident in Odisha involving two passengers trains and a goods train.

The case was registered under IPC sections 337, 338, 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention) and sections 153 (unlawful and negligent action endangering lives of Railway passengers ), 154 and 175 (endangering lives) of the Railways Act.

It is likely to be allotted to Special Crime Unit at the Delhi Headquarters.

According to the procedure, the CBI re-registers the local police FIR as its own case and starts the probe. It can add or remove a charge from the FIR in its charge sheet filed after the completion of its probe.

“We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident that claimed 275 lives and left over 1,000 injured,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening.

Railway officials have indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.

The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying over 2,500 passengers, and a goods train laden with iron ore occurred around 7 PM on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar.

As many as 21 coaches were derailed and severely damaged in the accident, trapping hundreds of passengers. 

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Monday recorded the statements of injured engine driver Gunanidhi Mohanty and his assistant Hajari Behera, who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, officials said.

Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express that derailed near Bahanaga Bazar Station on June 2 that had claimed 275 lives and left around1,200 injured. 

"Both the drivers are stable. While Mohanty was taken out of the ICU on Monday, Behera is awaiting a head surgery," South Eastern Railway (SER) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Aditya Choudhury told news agency PTI. Families of both the drivers have appealed to all for privacy and allow them to recover physically and mentally. They claimed that the drivers could not be blamed for the accident as they operated the locomotive according to rules.

Earlier, the Railway Ministry had apparently given clean chit to both of them. The Commissioner Railway Safety, SER Circle, which began its inquiry into the accident on Monday, has recorded the statements of both of them, Choudhury said. Sources said that an FIR was registered at the Government Railway Police Station (GRPS), Balasore, under sections of the Railway Act on June 3. 

On Sunday, the Railway Board had recommended a CBI probe into the Balasore train accident. 

Around 51 hours after the triple train crash and barely five hours after the damaged tracks were restored, a coal-laden goods train from Vizag port to Rourkela Steel Plant became the first to run on the route around10.40 pm on Sunday night.

 
The first high speed passenger train - Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express - passed through Balasore on Monday morning through the same tracks, officials said.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was present at the accident site and waved to the drivers when the train passed through, the officials said. 

The Odisha government has said it will bear the transportation cost of bodies of the accident victims to different states, chief secretary P K Jena said on Monday. Jena said 170 bodies out of 275 have so far been identified in Balasore and Bhubaneswar. 

He said: "Arrangements for free transportation of the bodies by hearses to various destinations will be done to help the bereaved families." 

He added that death certificates will be provided at the earliest and will be sent electronically or through speed post to the families of the deceased. 

The state government has announced two toll-free numbers 18003450061/1929 to help those looking for their missing relatives who were travelling in the ill-fated Coromandel Express on June 2.

Three trains Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train were involved in the pile-up on Friday, now being described as one of India's worst train accidents. 

Investigators are looking into possible human error, signal failure and other possible causes behind the three-train crash.