Case filed against 2 railway crossing staff in Cumilla

A case has been filed over the deaths of 12 bus passengers after a train hit the vehicle at a railway crossing in the Paduar Bazar area of Cumilla Sadar South upazila.

The case was filed on Monday afternoon at Laksam railway police station by a woman named Shefali Akter, 58.

Two railway crossing staff on duty—Md Helal and Mehedi Hasan—have been named as accused in the case.

In addition, other unidentified individuals responsible for the crossing have also been included as accused. Following the incident late Saturday night, the railway authorities had already suspended the two on charges of negligence.

In the case statement, Shefali Akter identified herself as the maternal aunt of Sohel Rana, 46, from Raipur village in Jibannagar upazila of Chuadanga. Sohel Rana was among the 12 people killed in the accident. Shefali is the wife of the late Aktaruzzaman of Fatehpur village in Laksam upazila.

The accident occurred at 2:55am on Eid day (Saturday) at the Paduar Bazar rail crossing on the Dhaka–Chattogram highway. A Chattogram-bound mail train collided with a Mamun Special Paribahan bus traveling from Chuadanga to Lakshmipur. The crash killed 12 people—seven men, two women, and three children—and left at least 10 others seriously injured. All the victims were passengers of the bus.

According to railway authorities, the incident occurred due to negligence by the gatemen on duty at the crossing. The two gatemen responsible have been temporarily suspended, and three investigation committees have been formed.

However, although both individuals were suspended as gatemen, the case lists one as a temporary gateman and the other as a wayman.

The main accused, Md Helal, 41, is the son of Nurul Islam from Kodalia village in Burichang upazila. He was working as a temporary gateman at Rail Gate No E/47 under the Paduar Bazar overpass. The other accused, Mehedi Hasan, 33, is the son of Abdul Kader from Bahiripara in the same upazila and was employed as a wayman at the crossing.

Attempts to contact both Helal and Mehedi Hasan by phone on Monday afternoon were unsuccessful, as their phones were found switched off. Sources said they have been in hiding since the incident.

In the complaint, Shefali Akter stated that Sohel Rana, her sister’s son, was a Malaysia expatriate who had returned to Bangladesh on leave on the 15th of Ramadan. On Eid day at around 6:42pm, he, along with his wife and child, boarded a Mamun Special bus from the Khalishpur bus counter in Jhenaidah, heading to Laksam. Shortly before 3:00am, the bus reached the Paduar Bazar rail crossing, where it collided with the engine of the Dhaka Mail “One Up” train coming from Chattogram. The bus became stuck to the engine and was dragged for nearly a kilometre.

Officer in charge of Laksam railway police station, Jasim Uddin Khandakar, told Prothom Alo that a case has been filed over the incident in which 12 people were killed at the Paduar Bazar crossing.

The two staff members on duty—Helal and Mehedi Hasan—have been named as accused and are currently absconding. Police are trying to arrest them and are also investigating the incident.