Madurai Train Fire Incident: Railway Police on Monday arrested five people in connection with the Madurai train fire tragedy. This comes a day after Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, A M Chowdhary commenced his inquiry into the train compartment fire accident that killed nine people. Talking to reporters, Chowdhary said that presently, he did not see any conspiracy angle. He added that he held inquiries with passengers and recorded statements from them on how the fire spread in the coach that was parked in a yard. According to PTI, the senior official further said it would take at least a month to complete the inquiry and submit the report to the authorities.
Chowdhary inspected the train coach, stationed in the railway yard in Madurai, that had caught fire on Saturday leading to the deaths of nine people and injuries to eight others. PTI reported that an official from the Southern Railway and a member of the Railway Board were part of the inquiry team.
On Sunday, the dead bodies of the accident victims were taken to Uttar Pradesh's state capital Lucknow by air, according to airport officials, reported PTI. The agency mentioned that the rules related to railway accidents mandate a statutory inquiry in every accident leading to loss of human lives, grievous injuries or serious damage to railway property.
Meanwhile, Government Railway Police (GRP) registered a criminal case against a tour operator for alleged illegal carriage of cooking gas cylinder in connection with the train fire, reported PTI.
With respect to 'illegal smuggling' of cooking gas cylinder in the tourist coach by the tour operator, a criminal case has been registered by GRP under various sections of IPC and Railways Act, a Southern Railway release said, as quoted by PTI.