UP: 5 railway officials get court notices over train accident in 2017

A local court in Muzaffarnagar issued notices on Thursday against five railway officials, some of them no longer in service, to appear in connection with the Kalinga Utkal train accident that left 23 people dead in 2017.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukeem Ahmad issued the notices against the 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 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.

They were charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 147 (rioting).

It is learnt that Northern Railway has earlier taken action against these officials with Pradeep Kumar dismissed from service, P V Taneja and Prakash Chand compulsorily retired while a warning was issued to Inderjit Singh.

The Kalinga Utkal Express was on its way from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar (Uttarakhand) when 14 coaches of the train derailed at Khatauli town in the district on August 19, 2017 killing 23 people and injuring over 100.

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