As politics intensified over the June 2 triple train crash in Odisha that left about 288 dead and more than 1,100 injured —- mostly from Bengal — State Chief Minister Banerjee once again questioned on Tuesday the efficacy of the CBI investigation into the mishap iterating however that “truth” in any case must come out.
Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari responded almost instantaneously wondering why the Trinamool Congress was so worried about CBI investigation saying he would appeal to the central agency to also investigate the post train accident telephonic conversation between two senior Railway officers —- discussing the plausible reasons of the crash —- that was released by TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. It was a clear case of telephone tapping by Mamata Banerjee’s police he alleged.
Banerjee, accompanied by her two Cabinet colleagues on Tuesday noon visited various hospitals at Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack meeting the injured. During the visit she once again questioned the efficacy of the CBI investigation into the train accident “as technically it is the
Commissioner of Railway Safety that is most well-equipped to do the job.”
Banerjee who swapped her prescheduled visit to Darjeeling with Tuesday’s trip to Odisha, said that irrespective of who investigated the accident the “truth must come.” The Chief Minister said, “I don’t want to say anything at this juncture except that truth must come out as so many people have died. Truth must prevail and must not be suppressed.”
Curiously her nephew Abhishek Banerjee had earlier said that the CBI investigation was being ordered in order to hide the failure of the BJP Government and divert the issue to some other direction for political purposes.
On the death toll Banerjee said that it was time for helping the victims and not the time for arguments. “It is not the time for arguments. So many people have died... let us work the people. Let us be on the side of the people,” Banerjee said adding 31 passengers from Bengal who were travelling in the ill-fated Coromandel Express and Humsafar Express were still missing. This even as latest reports quoting the Chief Secretary of Odisha put the death toll to 288. About 1,100 were injured in the accident.
Reacting rather strongly to Banerjee’s take on the CBI investigation Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari said the CBI investigation would reveal many things. It would reveal whether there was a TMC hand in a suspected sabotage or not, he said wondering why a senior TMC leader released taped conversations between the two senior Railway officials discussing the plausible reasons behind the mishap. “This means that Mamata Banerjee’s police having been taping conversations of central government employees … why were they doing so … the reason must be found out … and I will personally write an application to the CBI officials to investigate into the audio conversations… from where Kunal Ghosh found it and whether there was a TMC hand behind everything.”