Amritsar tragedy: Forensic team visits mishap site, victim files case against Navjot Kaur Sidhu
A case was also filed against Congress councillor Vijay Madaan’s son Saurabh Madan who had organised the Dussehra event near railway tracks.
A forensic team from Mohali visited Amritsar on Wednesday and examined the site of the train mishap on October 19 that claimed 62 lives. The team also inspected the train involved in the accident, The Indian Express reported.
The accident took place when a train ploughed through a crowd standing on the railway tracks at a Dussehra event held on a ground near the tracks in Amritsar. A second train coming from the opposite side ran over those who had jumped out of the way of the first train.
“The team has taken measurements of the distance between the Jaura railway crossing and the incident site, to calculate the speed and the time for the train to reach the incident site from the crossing,” Amritsar Government Railway Police Station House Officer Balbir Singh said. “The team also visited Attari railway crossing and checked the speedometer and front lights of the DMU [train] involved in accident.”
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Bikram Singh Majithia accompanied Lakhbir Singh, a man who was wounded in the accident, to the Mohkampaura police station and filed a complaint against local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, as well as Congress councillor Vijay Madaan’s son Saurabh Madan, the Hindustan Times reported.
“There were inadequate chairs in the ground where the Dussehra ceremony was being organised due to which people were forced to stand on the railway tracks,” Lakhbir Singh said in the complaint. “Navjot Kaur Sidhu reached the venue late. Had she turned up in time, the function would not have been delayed and the tragedy could have been averted. We didn’t know whether the organisers had taken permissions for the event or not.” He said Madan had delayed the programme for Kaur.
A police officer said a First Information Report would be filed only after an investigation. However, Majithia alleged that the Punjab Police were not taking any action against Madan and Kaur because of political pressure.