Train mishap: Passenger who claimed strange wheel sound told to depose

Indore: A day after he claimed that wheels of Indore-Patna Express had made some strange sound long before it derailed in Kanpur Rural district of Uttar Pradesh, Prakash Sharma, who had travelled between Indore and Ujjain, was today asked to depose before competent authority.

"A railway officer from Kanpur rang me up and asked me to be ready to depose before the competent officer regarding my statement that wheels of Indore-Patna Express made some strange sounds on November 19," Sharma (35), a resident of Kherkheda village in MP's Mandsaur district, told PTI today.

Sharma said he was ready to cooperate and record his statement in any probe "though I have not been informed when and where I am supposed to depose."

He said four officers of Ratlam Railway Division under Western Railway came to his place today and connected him to a higher official, whom he apprised about his claim in detail.

"On November 19, I boarded (sleeper coach) S-2 of Indore-Patna Express around 2 PM at Indore and after an hour I alighted at Ujjain. I informed an officer in railway uniform in my coach about the strange sound of the wheels. But he didn't take it seriously," he had told reporters yesterday.

Sharma had said that he didn't know the name of that official.

In the worst rail accident in recent years, 146 passengers were killed and more than 200 injured, when 14 coaches of the Patna-bound train derailed near Kanpur rural district early on Sunday due to suspected rail fracture.

The probe into the accident began today with Commissioner of Railway Safety, P K Acharya visiting the accident site and inspecting the broken track and the mangled bogies.

Earlier today, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu told Lok Sabha that a statutory inquiry by the commissioner of railway safety has been ordered to find the cause of the accident.