‘Culpable homicide, disappearance of evidence’: CBI arrests 3 Railways staff for Coromandel accident

“They have been charged under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender),” a source said.

The CBI had registered an FIR under IPC sections 337, 338, 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention), and sections 153 (unlawful and negligent action endangering lives of passengers), 154 and 175 (endangering lives) of the Railways Act, based on an initial FIR registered by the Government Railway Police at Balasore police station.

“After the June 2 incident, a six-member CBI team went to the site of the accident for examination. They also checked the panel room of the station, which displayed the signalling system and later spoke to officials in the record room,” a source said.

During its investigation, the CBI also collected from the railways documents and physical and digital logs.

The Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a stationary goods train were involved in the accident near Bahanaga Bazar railway station.

A parallel investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has held “multiple levels” of staff at the Signalling Department responsible for the accident.

According to the CRS report, the three signalling staff, who were arrested on Friday, were at the Bahanaga Bazar railway station on the day of the accident, carrying out replacement of an Electric Lifting Barrier (boom barrier) at level crossing no 94. The CRS report said faulty labelling of wires at the location box caused signalling error that led to the Coromandel Express entering a loop line before ramming into a stationary goods train.

On that day, Mahanta was supervising the team carrying out the replacement work at the level crossing while Khan was leading the team of technicians involved in the job. Technician Yadav was part of the team carrying out the actual job on ground, involving rewiring the location box at the level crossing.

“After the accident, Shri A K Mahanta, who was at the accident site, came to know from the Test-Room that the indication of the Crossover 17A/B was still showing Normal even when the point machines of 17A and 17B, at the site, were completely damaged,” the CRS report said, adding that Mahanta then asked the team to check any mistake in the wiring of the level crossing.

At the level crossing, Yadav, in the presence of Mahanta and Khan, discovered the wiring mistake. “Then he (Yadav) noticed that, on the cable side, no cable-core was connected; instead, 16 strand flexible wires were connected. He found that these wires, not visible from the front side, were drawn from back-side of the rack, and traced the other ends of the flexible wires which were left disconnected from terminals F23 & F24 during the barrier wiring work,” the CRS report said.

The team also told the CRS that even after the accident, the team did not think their ongoing work had anything to do with the mishap and they continued to finish their work at the level crossing, working on a road-user signal.

Although this is not the first time the CBI is probing the train accident, officials said they do not recall if the agency has ever arrested railway officials for such accidents in the past.

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Rescue operation underway following an accident involving Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Express and a goods train, in Balasore district, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (PTI)

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At least 238 people have been killed, and over 900 injured (Photo : Reuters)

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Rescue teams search the wreckage of the trains during a rescue operation after the triple train mishap, in Balasore district. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

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The accident took place at 7 am yesterday when a passenger train hit the derailed coaches of another train followed by a collision with a goods train causing a crash of several coaches. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

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Visuals from the crash site showed smashed train coaches torn open and twisted train tracks. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

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NDRF personnel carry out rescue work (PTI Photo)

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People, who were injured in trains collision, lie in a hospital corridor in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 3, 2023. REUTERS

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Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw overseeing the restoration work at the accident spot. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik meets an injured at a hospital in Balasore (PTI)

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An official gives a demonstration about the Odisha train accident as Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting to take the stock of situation after the mishap, in New Delhi, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (PTI Photo)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes stock of the situation at the site of the accident in Balasore district, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is also seen. (PTI Photo)

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Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya meets an injured at Capital Hospital following Friday's accident involving three trains, in Bhubaneswar. (PTI)

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Emergency helpline number has been released by the Odisha Government ( Photo : PTI)

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People look at pictures to identify the bodies of victims of a train collision, at a temporary mortuary created in a business park, following the train collision in Balasore district in Odisha. (Reuters)

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Frantic family members throng Bahanaga high school, speak with authorities in a desperate attempt to identify the dead bodies. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

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Sheikh Abdul Wahab of South 24 parganas district is doing rounds of the bodies with the picture of his brother Md Giasuddin Sheikh who was travelling to Chennai to work as a mason. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

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Disaster Response Force personnel at Chennai Central railway station, where a special train carrying passengers injured in an accident involving three trains arrived at the station on Sunday. (PTI)

In 2010, suspecting sabotage, the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had ordered a CBI probe into the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment that had killed 148 people in West Bengal. The CBI chargesheet had named pro-Maoist group People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities.

Railway officials said it is not uncommon for local police to register FIRs after train accidents cause casualties. But such cases never go far because the railways do not give prosecution sanction, as the CRS probes usually bring out procedural and technical lapses in accidents and there is no “mens rea (criminal intent)”.

“There may be mistakes and even negligence committed by railway officials in the course of duty and that could result in accidents but since there is no mens rea, railways usually take disciplinary actions within the provisions of the Railway Act and Service Rules, which include dismissal from service,” said a senior official.