CBI takes over Odisha train crash probe after state police files FIR, railways hint at sabotage
ODISHA,JUNE 6 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday officially took over the investigation into Odisha’s Balasore train crash. The probe agency was in the process of collecting documents and statements, before beginning to investigate the accident.
On Monday, a team of the CBI had visited the train accident site in Balasore.
The development came after the Odisha police registered a case under various sections of the IPC and Railway Act for causing death by negligence in connection with the accident.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had on Sunday announced that a CBI probe had been recommended into the accident.
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The case was registered under various IPC sections like 37 and 38 (related to causing hurt and endangering lives through rash or negligent action), 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.
The crash on June 2 involving two passenger trains and a goods train killed 275 people and injured more than 1,100, while the movement of goods and passenger trains on the busy route was also disrupted.
Later, the train movement resumed on the crucial route connecting eastern and southern India with the first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train passing through the area on Monday morning.
The railways has also launched a safety drive with a slew of directions to all zonal headquarters on the security of station relay rooms and compounds housing signalling equipment, including “double locking arrangements” after an initial probe showed “signalling interference” as a suspected reason behind the Odisha triple-train accident.
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RAILWAYS HINT AT SABOTAGE
Seeking a CBI probe into the Balasore train crash, the railways on Sunday, hours after minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the “root cause” of the accident and the people behind the “criminal” act have been identified.
Railway officials also indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.
However, several opposition parties stepped up pressure for Railway Minister Vaishnaw’s resignation, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling for fixing accountability from top to bottom.
The BJP hit back, saying the track record of the Congress-led UPA government’s railway ministers was nothing short of a disaster and they should not politicise the issue.
“We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident,” Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening.
Earlier in the day, he said the cause of the accident was related to an electric point machine and electronic interlocking.
-PTI
