CBI probe ordered into West Bengal train crash
By IANSWednesday, June 2, 2010
NEW DELHI - The central government Wednesday ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express near Jhargram in West Bengal’s Midnapore district that killed around 150 people May 28.
Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told IANS that the central government ordered the CBI probe following consultations with West Bengal.
“We consulted the West Bengal government. We have agreed to include the state police officers as well as the railway police in the CBI team to probe the derailment,” said Pillai.
Pillai said that while agreeing to the investigation by the CBI, West Bengal had sought that the probe team should include the state’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Railway Protection Force personnel.
The West Bengal government Monday rejected Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand for a CBI probe into the accident that also left over 200 injured.
Banerjee demanded that the central investigative agency should probe the “political conspiracy” behind the derailment, which the central and state governments termed as the handiwork of Maoists.
The Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express from Howrah derailed around 1.30 a.m. with some of its coaches tumbling over adjoining tracks. Within minutes, a freight train rammed into the derailed coaches, raising the number of fatalities.
–Indo Asian News Service
