Carefully probe Bahanaga crash, says High Court

CUTTACK: Observing that railway tragedies like the one in Bahanaga are happening frequently due to defective signalling systems or failure to maintain the signal systems properly, the Orissa high court has called for a "broad-based and comprehensive" investigation into last year's accident, "taking within its sweep the conduct of every officer involved in the signalling system."

The directive came while granting bail to three railway employees (technical) - Pappu Kumar, Arun Kumar Mahanta and Mohammad Amir Khan - named as accused by CBI in the Bahanaga case.

Nearly 300 people had died in a collision involving three trains on June 2, 2023.

"It becomes incumbent upon both the railway authorities as well as the investigating agency, i.e., CBI, to go deep into the matter and to find out not only the criminal angle involved in the alleged occurrence, but also the negligence," said Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra on Tuesday.