SILIGURI: Family members of Anil Kumar, the deceased loco pilot who has been blamed for the Kanchanjungha Express accident, said they were “shocked and speechless” and were planning “legal recourse” upon finding how the railways had imputed the charges to a dead and defenseless man.
“It is shocking and we don’t have words to express it. We are still mourning the death of my brother-in-law and here we find that the railways have held him responsible for the entire accident.How can they do it knowing well he is not there any more to defend himself? How can his wife and children live with this allegation?” said Amit Kumar, Anil’s brother-in-law while speaking to TOI over phone from their home in Patna.
Amit said once they complete all the rituals related to the cremation of the body, they will even consider legal options. “However, right now, we are not in the perfect frame of mind to decide the next course of action. The fact that my brother-in-law has died such a horrific death at work is yet to settle in and we can’t think about anything else at this moment,” Amit said on Tuesday morning.
Kumar (46) is survived by his wife Roshni and sons Ujjwal (15) and Aarush (9). TOI visited his flat on the top floor of a three storeyed building at Bhaktinagar in New Jalpaiguri where the family has been living for 11 years.
Neighbours said Roshni was unaware of his death even on Monday evening and was all the while told that he was still undergoing treatment. It was only after the family members brought his body outside their home in an ambulance before driving straight to Patna that she realized Kumar had died.
“He always seemed to be a very responsible person and had a very clean track record with no complaints of negligence in his 20-year career. It’s very unlikely a responsible man like him would make such a mistake,” said Pradip Das, who also works in the North East Frontier Railways. Starting his career as an assistant loco pilot at Badarpur in Assam, Kumar had risen up in rank and had shifted to NJP in 2013 as a loco pilot.