3 railway officials accused in Odisha train accident sent to judicial custody as CBI investigates

The three railway officials accused of the Balasore train accident have been sent to judicial custody by a special court in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar and will be freed only after their CBI remand ends. Senior Section Engineer (Signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammed Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar, who have been placed under suspension by the Railways, were produced before the CBI Special Court on Friday after their remand period ended. The three officials were arrested on July 7 by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The special court had initially granted five-day remand of the accused to the CBI on July 7 following which the court extended the remand period for four more days at the request of the investigating agency. The next hearing date is set on July 27. The three accused have been booked under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), and under Section 153 of the Railways Act. Although the investigative agency is yet to submit its report on the case, a report produced by the Commissioner of Railway Safety has found that the accident occurred due to “lapses” in the signalling circuit alteration. As many as 293 people were killed and over 1,200 injured when the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary freight train at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district, and some of its derailed coaches collided with Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express, on June 2. With inputs from PTI