"Unapproved Repair Work Was Done Knowingly": CBI On Odisha Train Tragedy

Unapproved repair work with "knowledge of the consequences" was carried out at a level crossing near the station in Odisha where the triple-train tragedy took place in June, killing 296 people, the CBI has told a special court. 

Senior Section Engineer (Signal In-charge) Arun Kumar Mahanta, who is among three railway officials arrested in connection with the crash, had moved the special CBI court in Bhubaneswar seeking bail. 

Opposing his petition, the probe agency told the court that the work of level crossing gate number 94 near Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha's Balasore was done by Mr Mahanta without the approval of senior divisional signal and telecom engineer and without an approved circuit diagram.

"The typical circuit diagram of another level crossing gate No.79 was being used at the time of execution of wiring work being done at North Goomty of Bahanaga Bazar Railway Station, for changing the operation of level crossing gate No.94 from 110-volt AC to 24-volt DC," the agency told the court. 

The CBI said Mr Mahanta was directly supervising the work at level crossing gate No.94 and these acts were done by him "with the knowledge of the consequences".

Mr Mahanta's counsel argued that the level crossing gate in question had not been working properly for some time, but his higher-ups had not taken "active action". He also said that the supervision work had been "entrusted to some other persons," therefore he was not responsible for the accident. 

Denying bail to Mr Mahanta, the court noted, "As per the manual, the accused-petitioner was to ensure that testing, overhauling and carrying out alterations to the existing signal and interlocking installations was in accordance with the approved plan and instructions."

"Further it reveals since no such steps were taken by the accused, it caused the accident and in the said accident more than 296 passengers were dead and many more passengers were seriously injured. From the material available on record, it prima facie shows the complicity of the present accused-petitioner for commission of the said offences," it said. 

The June 2 accident, which resulted in more than 296 deaths and over 1,000 injuries, involved the Kolkata-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train. It was one of the worst rail disasters in India in two decades.