Claims of a signal junior engineer missing from his home along with his family have been denied by the Chief Public Relations Officer of South Eastern Railway, Aditya Kumar Chaudhary.
Chaudhary told the media, "A few media reports are coming in that a Bahanaga staff is absconding and missing. This is factually incorrect. The entire staff is present & a part of inquiry. They are appearing before agency."
The Soro Section signal junior engineer and his entire family were found missing when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) went to his rented house on Monday. As the CBI continues their probe into the Odisha train tragedy, they sealed the house of the JE, Amir Khan.
According to the reports, Amir Khan has already been interrogated by the CBI earlier in an alleged undisclosed location but on Monday when the agency went to his home, they found it empty. Reports also suggest that the agency is keeping a close eye on the house as they have assigned two CBI officials to it.
Who is a signal junior engineer?
Reports say that the signal junior engineer has the responsibility to install, maintain and repair the signalling equipment. The signals, track circuits, point machines and interlocking systems are part of the signalling equipment. The JE is expected to keep a check on the entire signalling of the train for a smooth and safe operation throughout its journey.
Odisha train tragedy causes suspected
Reportedly as of now the railway officials have suspected that a deliberate interference with the electric interlocking system might be the reason behind this train tragedy that cost the lives of 290 people.
Rinkesh Roy, the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Khurda told the media, "you get green signal only after fulfilling all the pre-conditions such as whether the route is set and everything is right. Even if there is a minor problem, technically, there cannot be a green signal in any circumstance; it becomes red. It can’t go green unless and until someone has tampered with it, someone has physically tampered with it.”
CBI probe on the train tragedy
The CBI started to investigate the train accident after 4 days of its occurrence on June 6. An FIR was initiated by the agency on the accident and the need for CBI to look into the matter came about when the allegations of electronic interlocking system tampering were made.
Why is the interlocking system important?
The status of the train can be known through the electronic interlocking system making it quite an important part of the operation and safety. The railway officials reportedly raised concerns about deliberate sabotage with this operation. The reports also point out that this particular accident is something that the railway security and the forensic specialists might be more of help with because this is not the expertise that the CBI holds with much depth.
Involvement of five employees
According to the reports, the CBI probe is looking at the potential involvement of five employees in the accident. One of them is the station master at Bahanga Bazar. The other four employees were responsible for signalling duties and were present on the day of the accident.
