New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested three railway employees in connection with the Balasore train tragedy that claimed the lives of 291 passengers.
All three employees, Arun Kumar Mahanta, Md Amir Khan (junior section engineer) and Papu Kumar (technician), were arrested under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), imposed for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The CBI has also charged the three accused with section 201 of the IPC for disappearing evidence of an offence. The central probe agency had officially taken over the probe into Odisha's Balasore train crash on June 6. The crash on June 2 involving two passenger trains and a goods train also injured more than 1,100, while the movement of goods and passenger trains on the busy route was also disrupted.
The incident set off a slugfest between Congress and the BJP with the Opposition accusing the government of indulging in headlines management, and said the "sabotage theory" floated by the Railways in the Balasore train tragedy was to "escape accountability". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said while the inauguration of Vande Bharat trains continue, the Balasore train tragedy was caused by "misplaced priorities".
His remarks came after a high-level inquiry found "wrong signalling" to be the main reason for the accident involving three trains in Balasore and flagged "lapses at multiple levels" in the signalling and telecommunication (S&T) department, but indicated that the tragedy could have been averted if past red flags were reported."
It is clear that the sabotage theory floated by the prime minister and Railway Minister is to escape accountability and manage the headlines. The Commissioner of Rail Safety has concluded that severe shortcomings in procedures and systems relating to rail safety resulted in the Balasore train disaster," Ramesh said on Twitter.
