Old and unrelated image shared to lie that a Muslim station master is absconding in Odisha train tragedy.
Claim
Heard that the station master named “Sharif” has gone missing after the inquiry was ordered? That’s the problem with this community. #BalasoreTrainAccident #TrainAccident
Rating
Explanation
The recent Odisha triple train accident is a horrific train crash that killed close to 300 people and left 1000 injured. Multiple claims are being made to portray Muslim community as the reason behind the train accident in some or the other way. The reason behind the accident is being investigated.
An image of a person is shared to claim that he is Sheriff, the station master of Balasore railway station, who has gone missing after the inquiry was ordered. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.
What is the truth?
When reverse-searching the viral image, we found that the image is not of the Balasore railway station master but an old image of the Borra Ghualu station master.
A blog posted on the vikaschander website is found carrying the viral image in a railway blog titled “Kottavalasa Kirandul KK Line”. Vikaschander visited the KK Line – Kotavalasa to Kirandul in March 2004 along with Bharat Vohra. They visited Borra Ghualu station on 5, March 2004 and again the next day morning they returned to the station and had breakfast with the station master. The person in the viral image is identified as the Borra Ghualu station master.
When searching for the station master related to the Balasore train accident, we found a video of India Today on its Youtube channel. The video dated 5, June 2023 mentions that SB Mohanty, station master on duty at the mishap site of the Odisha train tragedy was shunted. SK Pattanayak, Bahanaga station manager is seen talking in the video mentioning that Mohanty was on duty during the train accident but is of no fault.
We also found another Youtube video from OTV that explains the railway signaling system. The video at 3:00 minutes shows the list of people enrolled in the railway station. Names of Pattanayak, Panda, Nayak and Mohanty are listed at the top. Pattanayak’s designation is mentioned as (SMR) Station Manager and the other three as SS. And no person with the name Sheriff is seen in the list shown.
We have mentioned in our other article that BJP supporters are spreading misinformation related to the Odisha train accident that affects communal harmony. Odisha police also tweeted not to share any misinformation that gives communal colour to the tragic incident. The tweet further states that severe legal action will be initiated against those who are trying to create communal disharmony by spreading rumours. Earlier, it was claimed that a Mosque near the tragic incident is the reason behind the tragedy. Youturn fact-checked and published an article that it is not a mosque but ISKCON temple near the train track.
Read More: ISKCON temple near the Odisha train accident site shared as Mosque to create communal disharmony.
Conclusion
It is found that the image shared in the viral post is old and unrelated to the Odisha train tragedy. And the station master is identified as Mohanty and not Sheriff as claimed.
