The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s main investigative agency, arrested three people on Friday in connection with the Odisha railway accidents, which killed 293 people and injured over 1,000 more.
The three arrested railway officials are senior section engineer Arun Kumar Mohanta, section engineer Mohammad Amir Khan, and technician Pappu Kumar.
According to sources, these three were aware that their activities could result in a tragedy.
They were arrested under sections 304 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (causing the disappearance of evidence of offence or providing false information to screen perpetrator).
The committee identified that the train disaster occurred as a result of incorrect connections in the network’s automated signalling system made by employees maintaining the railway barrier. It also discovered “lapses at multiple levels” that resulted in the deaths of at least 293 persons and the injuries of over 1,000 others.
The wires in the level-crossing position box were in error and were undiscovered for years, leading to a mix-up during maintenance work, according to the investigation, and the accident could have been avoided if the red flags had not been ignored.
According to reports, the event was primarily the fault of the Indian Railways Signal and Telecommunication (S&T) department.
Furthermore, the investigation blamed the station master, a member of the operations department, for failing to recognise the “abnormal behaviour” of the automated signalling system.
The CRS investigators also stated that the first of the three incidents on June 2 was caused by recent maintenance work at the signalling circuit to address recurrent difficulties at a neighbouring railway.
They also emphasised the negligence of a few ground authorities who did not follow proper safety procedures of inspection, particularly after adjustments were made to the design three years ago due to safety concerns.
According to the report, which was provided to the Railway Board, the S&T department could have detected “repeated unusual behaviour” of switches connecting two parallel tracks regardless of any flaws in the signalling system if they had been reported by the station manager of Bahanaga Bazar, the accident’s site.
This is a developing story. More updates will be added soon.
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