CUTTACK: Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Sudarsan Nayak and three Railway officials on Monday reached the department’s Officers’ Rest House near Cuttack railway station and began probe into the recent train mishap near Kathajodi passenger halt.
Nayak quizzed 12 officials including driver of the goods train A Sarkar, Assistant Driver NS Rao, guard PC Sethy, Station Manager of Cuttack, Baranga and Gopalpur stations, Fire Officer Laxmidhar Pradhan, officials of ODRAF team, IIC and DSP of Government Railway Police (GRP), Cuttack. He also took evidence relating to the mishap from them.The CRS also recorded statements of all 18 witnesses and six persons injured in the mishap.
Except driver Sanatan Das, assistant driver Jyoti Ranjan Natha and guard of the ill-fated Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak DMU train, all other persons whom notices were served were present.
“The driver, assistant driver and helper of the train will be summoned again to give witness. If necessary, they will be called to Kolkata Head Office as their statements are vital in conducting the probe,” said Nayak.
When asked about findings of the preliminary investigation, the CRS said nothing concrete can be said now. While the preliminary investigation report will be submitted to Central Government within one month, it will take some more time for submission of the final report, he added.
The DMU train rammed rear end of a stationary train at Kathajodi killing two persons and injuring more than 35 persons on September 29 night.