Balasore train accident: CBI files chargesheet against 3 railway officials; they destroyed evidence

The CBI has filed the chargesheet against three railway employees who were earlier arrested in connection with the Balasore train accident that killed around 290 people and injured several hundred.

The three railway employees Arun Kumar Mahanta, Md Amir Khan and Pappu Kumar have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence.

The three railway employees were arrested in July, a month after multiple trains collided with each other in Odisha’s Balasore owing to a possible signal failure — killing around 290 people in a ghastly train accident in the history of the Indian Railways. Arun Kumar Mahanta, senior section engineer; Mohammad Amir Khan, section engineer; and technician Pappu Kumar were arrested by the CBI for their role that led to the accident. All three of them were arrested under sections 304 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code.

The multiple train crash involved a Coromandel Express, a Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express coming from opposite directions and a goods train parked at Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Balasore.

The CBI has alleged that the repair work at the level crossing gate number 94 near Bahanaga Bazar station was done by Mahanta using the circuit diagram of LC gate no. 79. The duty of the accused was to ensure that testing, overhauling and carrying out alterations to the existing signal and interlocking installations were in accordance with the approved plan and instructions which he did not do.