Utkal Express derailment: 4 railway officials suspended, 3 sent on leave

New Delhi: Following the derailment of the Kalinga Utkal Express that killed 23 passengers, the government on Sunday suspended four railway officials and sent three others on leave.

Suspended officials included Khatauli Junior Engineer Pradeep Kumar, Muzaffarnagar Senior Section Engineer Inder Jeet Singh, Assistant Engineer(Meerut-Delhi Division) Rohit Kumar and Senior Divisional Engineer (Delhi) R.K. Verma, a Railway Ministry statement said.

Those asked to go on leave were Northern Railway General Manager R.R. Kulshrestha, Divisional Rail Manager R.N. Singh and Railway Board Member A.K. Mittal. Chief Track Engineer of Northern Railway Alok Ansal was transferred.

Fourteen coaches of the train derailed on Saturday evening at Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh. More than 150 people were injured. Railway officials admitted that negligence by its staff was to blame for the disaster.

Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has, however, denied any terrorist connection in the mishap.