The CBI has on Friday arrested three employees of the Indian Railways in connection with the triple train crash near Balasore in Odisha last month that killed more than 293 people and left over 1,200 injured.
Those arrested are Arun Kumar Mahanta, a senior sectional engineer in Balasore; Mohammed Amir Khan, posted as a sectional engineer in Soro; and technician Pappu Kumar, who worked in Balasore.
All three have been arrested under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence).
This is the first arrest made by the CBI, which was probing the possibility of a criminal conspiracy into the accident.
According to the agency, the investigation has revealed that the actions of these three employees allegedly led to the accident, and they have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder as they had knowledge that their actions would result in this tragedy but not the intent.
On June 2, a triple-train accident involving Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express and an iron ore-laden goods train took place near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odishas Balasore district.
Commissioner of Railway Safety A M Chowdhary of the South-Eastern zone, who was also probing the accident, had last month in his report submitted to the Railway Board flagged human error of workers in the signalling department as responsible for it.
A CBI Court in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening sent the three accused to five days custodial remand for recovery of evidence and unearthing the conspiracy, if any.
