SILIGURI: Parents of injured
Manu Kumar
(31) - the
assistant loco pilot
of the goods train that had rammed into 13174 Kanchanjungha Express on Monday killing 10 and injuring 41 people - have sought "
insaaf
" for their son after
railways
had blamed him and his deceased colleague loco pilot Anil Kumar for the
accident
in their preliminary probe.
A
probe team
led by the chief commissioner of railway safety (CCRS), Janak Kumar Garg, has already begun a probe to find who was at fault where Manu Kumar, too, will be questioned, as the key witness, once he is declared fit by doctors at Paramount Hospital where he is currently undergoing treatment.
"I believe my son is alive by the stroke of luck. But he is now set to face a bigger challenge of proving his innocence now that the railways have already blamed him and the loco pilot for the accident even before the commission of the enquiry. Hume insaaf chahiye (we demand justice). We want the enquiry team to conduct a fair probe and not target my son and the dead loco pilot if they are not at fault," said Raghu Nandan, father of Manu Kumar.
Railway board chairperson Jaya Verma Sinha had declared Manu Kumar as "dead" within four hours of the accident in a press conference in Delhi on Monday and railway officials soon trained the gun on the "deceased pilot and co-pilot" blaming the two for the accident.
But, by Monday evening, a video surfaced on social media where in Manu Kumar was found lying on a hospital bed and enquiring about the condition of loco pilot Anil Kumar.
"Driver sahib kaise hain? (How is driver sir doing?)" he was seen asking in the video and as someone said the driver was still stuck, he shifted his look before closing his eyes. He could only say he lived with his wife here and said he didn't have any children.
Sources said Manu Kumar had ducked under an iron seat at the time of the accident and was pulled out alive with visible injuries limited to only his upper lips. He was initially admitted at the emergency observation ward at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital before being shifted to the male observation ward but was shifted to Paramount Hospital by Tuesday morning.
TOI tried to meet him at the hospital but officials said railways have instructed them strictly not to allow anyone other than immediate kin. Doctors said he was admitted at ICU and was recuperating from a blunt trauma injury on his head and chest. Even his mother Draupadi Debi said she too was trying to meet him but has not been allowed by railways and hospital officials.
Divisional railway manager of Katihar division, Surendra Kumar, said: "Probe team will speak to all witnesses and personnel in charge of passage of the train before coming to a conclusion. No one has been held responsible yet."
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