The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Monday recorded the statements of injured engine driver Gunanidhi Mohanty and his assistant Hajari Behera, who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, officials said. Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express that derailed near Bahanaga Bazar Station on June 2 that had claimed 275 lives and left around 1,200 injured.
“Both the drivers are stable. While Mohanty was taken out of the ICU on Monday, Behera is awaiting a head surgery,” South Eastern Railway (SER) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Aditya Choudhury said. Families of both the drivers have appealed to all for privacy and allow them to recover physically and mentally.They claimed that the drivers could not be blamed for the accident as they operated the locomotive according to rules. Earlier, the Railway Ministry had apparently given clean chit to both of them.
The Commissioner Railway Safety, SER Circle, which began its inquiry into the accident on Monday, has recorded the statements of both of them, Choudhury said.
Sources said that an FIR was registered at the Government Railway Police Station (GRPS), Balasore, under sections of the Railway Act on June 3. On Sunday, the Railway Board had recommended a CBI probe into the Balasore train accident.