Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Three Indian Railways personnel were detained today by the Central Bureau of Investigation in relation to the terrible train catastrophe that occurred in Balasore, Odisha, last month and resulted in more than 293 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries. The likelihood of a criminal conspiracy into the accident was being looked into by the central investigation agency. The three employees who were detained, Senior Section Engineer (signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammed Amir Khan, and Technician Pappu Kumar, face charges of culpable homicide that does not constitute murder and evidence destruction.
According to sources, the inquiry determined that these three’s acts caused the disaster, and they have been charged with culpable homicide that does not constitute murder since “they had knowledge” but not the “intent” that their actions would cause this catastrophe. If they had intended to kill, they would have faced murder charges.
The disaster was being investigated by the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), who last week identified human error by employees in the signaling department as the cause, ruling out the possibility of sabotage, a technical malfunction, or a mechanical issue. According to reports, the CRS called out certain ground officials’ incompetence for failing to follow proper safety inspection protocols, especially after design adjustments were made three years ago as a result of safety concerns.
Despite the signaling errors, the S&T staff could have taken corrective action if the station manager at the accident site, Bahanaga Bazar, had reported to them the “repeated unusual behavior” of switches connecting two parallel tracks, according to the independent inquiry report submitted by the CRS to the Railway Board. According to the study, a similar occurrence occurred on May 16, 2022, at Bankranayabaz station in the South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur Division due to incorrect wiring and cable breakdown. The disaster at BNBR “would not have taken place had corrective measures been taken, after this incident, to address the issue of wrong wiring,” the investigation stated.
The Narendra Modi administration has “thoroughly compromised” on fundamental concerns of railway safety, according to the Congress, which made this claim on Tuesday in reference to the CRS study. Additionally, it claimed that “human error” revealed managerial and political leadership failures. A month after the three-train tragedy, South Eastern Railway’s General Manager, Archana Joshi, was recently fired, and Anil Kumar Mishra was appointed to fill her position.
