Railways minister announces Rs 2 crore for development of villages near Odisha train accident site; CBI takes JE Amir Khan to rented house for probe;

Ashwini Vaishnaw announced Rs 2 crore for developing villages near the Balasore train accident site. The CBI on Tuesday took the railway junior engineer to his rented house in Soro and started an investigation in connection with the triple train accident that took place in the Balasore district of Odisha.

Balasore (Odisha): Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that Rs 1 crore had been allotted for the development works of Bahanaga Hospital and another Rs 1 crore to develop the village and nearby villages. Vaishnaw held a meeting with the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and State government officials in Odisha's Balasore.

The minister announced Rs 1 crore from his MP local area development (LAD) fund and another Rs 1 crore from Railways funds for the development of Bahanaga village and the hospital there. He said that the concept for Balasore station was presented during the meeting and the option chosen is related to Jagannath temple.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday took the railway junior engineer (JE) Amir Khan to his rented house in Soro and started an investigation in connection with the triple train accident, which claimed over 292 lives that took place in Odisha's Balasore. The rented house was sealed by the agency on Monday. The agency took the JE to his rented house at Soro and began the interrogation.

On Tuesday, a six-member CBI team in the presence of JE Amir Khan opened his rented house and started an investigation. The CBI, which is conducting an investigation to ascertain the circumstances that led to the deadly accident, reportedly questioned him during the course of their investigation at an undisclosed location.

Sources said that the signal JE and his family were missing from their rented house since the Bahanaga train accident that took place on June 2. However, the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of South Eastern Railway, Aditya Kumar Choudhary refuted the media reports that one of the employees was missing. He clarified that all employees were present and attending the inquiry.

Sources said that the CBI team members returned from the accident site in Balasore on June 19. However, some team members returned to the site on Monday to seal the rented house of the Junior Engineer. Notably, the deadly accident involving two passengers and a goods train on June 2 has left 292 dead and over 1100 injured.