A court in Maharashtra`s Thane is expected to deliver its order on Thursday on the pre-arrest bail plea of two Railway engineers booked for culpable homicide in the Mumbra train accident that killed five persons in June, reported news agency PTI.
Arguing before Additional Sessions Judge G T Pawar on Wednesday, Defence counsel Baldev Rajput termed the prosecution`s theory blaming the duo for the accident “completely baseless and misleading”, reported PTI.
Earlier, the prosecution had highlighted that a Railway report cited a passenger`s bag as the cause, but no bag was recovered during the `panchnama` (spot assessment).
Questioning the panchnama, Rajput said it was conducted two days after the incident, making it improbable that evidence would remain intact. The videos presented by the defence, he said, clearly showed bags at the site, reported PTI.
He also submitted records of 28 trains passing the same spot on the day of the incident, along with CCTV footage from nearby stations. Rajput rejected the prosecution`s claim that the bogie number 3 of the Kasara local train was not crowded, reported PTI.
Rajput presented footage from the Diva station showing that the coach was heavily overcrowded.
The prosecution, meanwhile, maintained that negligence by the engineers led to the accident.
The court is expected to announce its decision on the bail pleas on Thursday.
The accident occurred on June 9 between Diva and Mumbra stations in Thane district when two local trains — one headed to Kasara and the other towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai — were passing each other at a sharp curve (near the Mumbra station).
Some commuters standing on the footboard of the coaches fell onto the tracks after their backpacks brushed against each other, the police have said.
The accident resulted in the death of five passengers.
The GRP (Government Railway Police) on November 1 registered a case in connection with the accident against assistant divisional engineer Vishal Dolas, senior section engineer Samar Yadav and other Railway officers and employees, who had the responsibility of maintenance of the tracks.
The two engineers earlier told the court that the accident occurred not due to any lapses on their part, but because the trains were overcrowded.
(With inputs from PTI)
