CHENNAI/VELLORE: A Rajkumar (40), the motorman of the Chennai-Vellore Cantonment local train, that collided with a passenger train on the same track near Sitheri in Vellore district on September 13, was arrested on Thursday.The Railway Police produced Rajkumar before Arakkonam Judicial Magistrate Bakthavatchalam, who remanded him to 15 days judicial custody. Thereafter, Rajkumar was taken to the Vellore Central Prison by the investigation team led by GRP DSP Ponram.According to police, Raj kumar took over from another driver at the Arakkonam station in the Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) around 9.15 pm on September 13. Investigations revealed that he was engaged in a conversation with a colleague on his mobile phone.“Within nine minutes of the departure from Arakkonam, he spoke to a colleague three times, but failed to notice the signals, resulting in the mishap. The EMU rammed a stationary passenger train at 9.24 pm at a speed of 97 kmph, against the stipulated 75 kmph,” a police official told Express on condition of anonymity.The police have booked Rajkumar under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC. Stressing that he was the sole accused in the case, official sources claimed that the motorman’s lack of attention was the only reason for the accident. Earlier, the investigation team picked up Kumar from Moore Market Complex, when he was returning to Avadi around 2.00 pm. “He was arrested following certain clues. He was discharged from the Perambur railway hospital on October 3,” the official said. It may be recalled that 11 persons were killed and 85 others hurt in the accident.
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