Bhuvenshwar: In a startling development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against three railway officials in connection with the Balasore train accident that occurred on June 2, 2023. The chargesheet includes sections related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing the disappearance of evidence. The three arrested railway officials, identified as Senior Section Engineer Amir Khan, Senior Section Engineer Arun Kumar Mahanta, and Technician Pappu Kumar, were taken into custody by the CBI on July 7 in relation to the tragic accident that unfolded in Balasore district. The accident claimed the lives of 296 people and left over 1,200 injured.

The CBI's chargesheet, submitted before a special judicial magistrate in Bhubaneswar, alleges that the trio attempted to destroy evidence to avoid detection of their involvement in the accident following the collision. The charges pressed against the accused are based on sections 304(II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 read with 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 153 (endangering the safety of railway passengers by willful act of omission) of the Railways Act.

The CBI's investigation explored various angles, including foul play, technical glitches, and human error. It revealed that a wiring fault in a location box, responsible for controlling signaling functions, went unnoticed by the Signal and Telecom staff. Additionally, data from a logger device was analyzed to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident. According to the CBI, Senior Railway officials discovered that Arun Kumar Mahanta had been informed four hours after the accident that the point indication was normal, despite damaged point machines. An unnoticed labeling error by ground staff since 2018 was also alleged.

The accused were directly responsible for the maintenance of signal and telecommunication assets at the railway station where the accident occurred. Repair work at level crossing gate no. 94 was carried out under Mahanta's direct supervision, utilizing circuit diagrams from gate no. 79. During wiring work for the control operation of the Electronic Lever Frame (ELB), the Signal and Telecom staff reportedly used F23 and F24 terminals as "spares," leading to the disconnection of the feed from crossover 17A/B to 17 NWKR circuit, the location of the accident. This resulted in the green signal indication feed becoming disconnected from the ground status.

The CBI took over the case within a week of the accident, following a request from Indian Railways and a recommendation from the Odisha government. A high-level inquiry initiated by Indian Railways had previously identified "wrong signaling" as the primary cause of the accident. The inquiry report revealed lapses in the signaling and telecommunication department at multiple levels, including the use of incorrect wiring diagrams. The Balasore train accident is a tragic incident that claimed many lives and has prompted investigations into railway safety and signaling procedures in India.

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