5 railway officials issued notices to appear in 2017 Kalinga Utkal train accident case

A local court in Muzaffarnagar issued notices on Thursday against five railway officials to appear in connection with the Kalinga Utkal train accident of 2017 that left 23 people dead and over hundreds injured.

A local court in Muzaffarnagar issued notices on Thursday against five railway officials to appear in connection with the Kalinga Utkal train accident of 2017 that left 23 people dead and over hundreds injured. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukeem Ahmad issued the notices against five railway officials and directed them to appear in court on October 17.

According to prosecution, the deputy superintendent of police of the Government Railway Police had filed a charge sheet in court last month against the then Senior Section Engineer Inderjit Singh, the then Junior Engineer Pradeep Kumar, the then Station Master Prakash Chand, the then Section Controller P V Taneja and hammer man Jitendra under Indian Penal Code Sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 147 (punishment for rioting), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way). It is learnt that Northern Railway has already taken departmental action against officials in which one of them was dismissed from service while two were compulsorily retired.

The Kalinga Utkal Express was on its way from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar (UP) when 14 coaches of the train derailed at Khatauli town in the district on August 19, 2017 killing 23 people..