The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested three officials in connection with horrific Odisha triple train collision in which over 290 people lost their lives.
The arrested railway officials have been identifies as Arun Kumar Mahanta, senior section engineer Mohammad Amir Khan, and section engineer and technician Pappu Kumar. The agency said that the accused have been arrested under section 304 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code for “their action which led to the incident,” however, their actions have been kept under wraps.
The CBI has included two stringent section related to culpable homicide and destruction of evidence. The said sections were not invoked by the agency during the initial FIR which was a re-registration of the Odisha police’s case.
The arrest came days after the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) submitted its report on the Balasore accident on Wednesday to the railway board. The investigation found faulty signalling due to two botched repair works, including one in 2018 and one hours before the Coromandel Express going on a collision course with a good trains on another track.
The probe carried out by the Railways was not made public as to ensure that there is no “influence or interference” in the on-going investigation carried out by the CBI.