CBI registers FIR, team scours for clues from accident site

Bhubaneswar: A 10-member CBI team on Tuesday visited the triple train accident site at Bahanaga and registered an FIR in connection with the Friday tragedy and took over all the probe filed from the Government Railway Police.
CBI DSP Anil Chandola, Inspected the site, station, signal room, control room and guard room among other places at Bahanaga, sources said.
“The team also checked the station’s logbook to verify all entries. The CBI team will probe whether there was deliberate human interference as has been strongly suspected, possible human error or there were technical reasons behind the accident,” said a security source.
The CBI FIR has stuck to the same IPC Sections of 304-A (causing death due to negligence) besides 337, 338 endangering safety of others besides sections of the Indian Railway Act against unknown persons, as it re-registered the GRP FIR as a regular case.
South Eastern Railway officials said the CBI teams have been working from different locations. “They are collecting evidence from the site, equipment, staff members and signal relay panel,” an official said.
The central government’s department of personnel and training (DoPT) on Sunday had conveyed the CBI about the request of the Ministry of Railways requesting for a probe into the causes leading to the rail mishap involving the Coromandel Express, which also impacted two coaches of Yeshwantpur (Bengaluru)-Howrah Express, the CBI FIR said.
Jaya Varma Sinha, member (operations and business development) of Railway Board, wrote to DoPT secretary Radha Chauhan requesting for a CBI probe after railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced in public about recommending CBI probe into the tragedy.
The CBI probe will continue simultaneously with the ongoing investigation by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, which comes under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.