New Delhi:
The Odisha police has filed a case with charges of “causing death by negligence and endangering life” in the Balasore train accident which killed 275. The investigation will soon be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“At present, culpability of specific railway employees has not been ascertained, which will be unearthed during investigation,” the First Information Report (FIR) states.
Here is a copy of the FIR, exclusively accessed by NDTV
On Sunday, Indian Railways sought a CBI inquiry into the accident, and also indicated that the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, could have been tampered with.
“Kavach”, the indigenously developed automatic train protection system, was not available on the route where the accident took place. A railways official, however, said had it been in place, the system would not have been helpful in averting such an accident.
Sources in the CBI say that a probe team will reach the accident site tomorrow and take over the case from the Railway Police in Cuttack. CBi will seek the assistance of the Commission of Railway Safety in its investigation.
The death count in the three-train crash was revised to 275 from 288 by the Odisha government which said some bodies were counted twice earlier.
With 187 bodies yet to be identified, keeping them till the time they are claimed by the victims’ kin is proving to be a challenge to the local administration.
