A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team, on Saturday, July 7, started interrogation of three Railways officials were were arrested in connection to the Balasore triple train tragedy. The CBI had, on Friday evening, arrested senior section engineer (signal) Arun Kumar Mohanta, section engineer (signal) Mohammad Amir Khan and technician Pappu Kumar. They are booked under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 153 (endangering safety of persons traveling by railway by willful act of omission) of Railways Act, 1989.
After the arrests, the central agency brought all of them to Bhubaneswar and produced before them in a CBI court here after their health check-up. The CBI got a five-day remand of all the arrested officials for interrogation. Now, the arrested officials are being interrogated by a special team of the CBI at a police station in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, the sources added.
The CBI had registered the instant case on June, 6 following the request of the Union Ministry of Railways, consent of the Odisha government and further orders from Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) relating to the tragedy. At least 293 people died and over 1,000 others were injured after Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, Howrah bound SMVP-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train were involved in a tragic accident near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station on June 2.
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