YSR Congress party general secretary and parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy, who has been targeting former Union minister and senior Telugu Desam Party leader from Vizianagaram P Ashok Gajapathi Raju for quite some time, has found one more issue to step up the attack.
On Tuesday, Sai Reddy wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting disclosure of the report of National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into the the railway accident near Kuneru Railway station in 2017.
It may be mentioned that at 11.30 pm on January 21, 2017, Hirakund Express travelling from Jagdalpur to Bhubaneswar derailed near Kuneru Railway Station, resulting in the death of 42 passengers and injuring 70 others.
The YSRC MP said it is learnt that then divisional railway manager (DRM) played a mischief through Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who was then Civil Aviation Minister. He alleged that Raju had managed the Commissioner of Railway Safety to hush up the case.
“Several lakhs of rupees were used for the purpose by Ashol Gajapathi Raju through his henchmen B V V Raju and C Vishnu Murthy, the then protocol official and senior official in North Waltair,” Sai Reddy claimed.
He further accused the then DRM of managing the CBCID through the State government at that time, which misled the NIA team.
The YSRC MP said tracks were tampered the day after the accident to blame the Naxalites for the accident, but the DGP of Odisha and SP of Rayagada had categorically ruled out the involvement of Naxalites in the accident.
Stating that even after four years of the accident there has been no action from the NIA, the MP urged the PM to initiate action to ensure justice is done to the victims, who largely belong to tribal communities in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
“If the NIA report cannot be disclosed, the Centre should constitute an Apex Level Committee for a thorough investigation and punish the culprits,” Sai Reddy appealed to the Prime Minister.
