Nearly 300 people were killed and over 800 injured in a horrific train accident in Odisha's Balasore district on Friday, June 2. According to information available at the moment, a little before 7 pm on Friday, the Chennai-bound Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express hit an iron ore-laden stationary goods train and 10 to 12 Coromandel coaches got derailed and fell over on another track. The Bengal-bound Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, plying on that line, subsequently collided with those coaches, derailing three to four of its own coaches. The accident took place near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station on the Kharagpur–Puri line under the Kharagpur railway division of the South Eastern Railway zone.
In the days following the accident, even as the Railways started an inquiry to find out the exact cause of the mishap, several theories surfaced in media and public discourse. Some social media users claimed that the station master of the Bahanaga Bazar railway station, a certain Sharif, was absconding since the accident.
Vivek Pandey (@vivekpandeyvns_), a Twitter Blue subscriber the 'chief of Rashtravadi Hindu Mahasabha' according to his bio, said in a now-deleted tweet said, "Name Sharif. Post - Station Master. At present, is absconding since the order of investigation. From now on one needs to check the name before offering a job. #Balasore". (Archive)
Another Twitter Blue user, @Manv1994, whose bio says that he is the BJP IT chief in Vidhan Sabha from the Khair constituency, tweeted something similar on June 4 and also added an image of the supposed station master, Sharif: "Heard that the station master named 'Sharif' has gone missing after the inquiry was ordered? This is the problem with this community. #BalasoreTrainAccident #TrainAccident." (Archive)
Another user, 
योगीआदित्यनाथफैन(डिजिटल योद्धा)गोडसे का भक्त 
(@maheshyagyasain), who is a Twitter Blue subscriber, also shared a tweet with the similar claim that the station master, Sharif, is absconding since the mishap. He went on to claim that the accident was made to happen by station master Sharif.
He wrote, "This (the triple train collision) is not an accident, not a negligence, it has been intentionally executed by the station master Sharif who is absconding. He moved the Coromandel Express to the loop line where a static goods train. His real face will be exposed in the investigation if the involvement of station master Sharif is exposed." (Archive)
Many other users including @manojkrs29, @yagya_varaha, @SNJ_111, @satyamS19745855, @JPThailand2, @UmeshCh57137537, @Kashi_Ka_Pandit shared similar claims.
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As can be seen above, several users connected the 'station master Sharif' theory with the supposed mosque near the tracks. The photo, where the white building has been pointed at with an arrow, was viral separately as well with the suggestion that it was a mosque, which proved the role of Muslims behind the accident. Alt News has already debunked this. The building is actually an ISKCON temple.
Fact Check
A keyword search led us to a report by Kalinga TV, an Odia language news outlet, published on June 3. The headline said, "Odisha train accident: Bahanaga Assistant Station Master is on the run, case registered". The report further mentioned that "according to reports, Bahanaga Assistant Station Master S B Mohanty, who was on duty, fled from the spot after the train accident took place."
Then on June 5, Kalinga TV published another report with the headline: "Odisha Train Accident: Interrogation of Bahanaga Station Master underway." The report mentioned that Mohanty was being interrogated by the Railway Safety Commissioner team regarding the train accident on June 2.
We contacted two senior IPS officers from Odisha who confirmed to us that none of the station staff was absconding and police were in touch with them. One of them said there was no one named 'Sharif' among the station staff. Another one said, "All the station staff are available. They are attending inquiries at different levels/places."
Further, we reached out to a senior Bhubeneswar-based journalist with a national English daily who covered the accident. He said on Monday, "All of this is a rumour. He is not absconding and is cooperating with the authorities in the investigation. Mohanty travelled to Khurdah late last night to join the probe."
Railways PRO Nihar Mohanty, too, confirmed to Alt News that S B Mohanty was not absconding.
To check the authenticity of the image used by @Manv1994 in his tweet, we ran a reverse image search, which led us to a website: vikaschander.com. We found the image in a blog post published on the website on March 2004. The title said: "Kottavalasa Kirandul KK Line". We found more such railway blog posts on the website.
We came across Vikas Chander's Facebook profile where his bio said that he is a digital creator, it also had the above website link attached.
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The man whose photo has been used in the viral posts is identified as the station master of Borra Guhalu railway station in the blog.
Thus, the claims that the Balasore railway station master named Sharif is absconding are false. The Bahanaga Bazar station master's name is S B Mohanty. There was an initial report that Mohanty was missing for some time after the accident, but we can confirm that he is available and cooperating with the investigation.
It is worth noting that several social media users have made attempts to add a communal twist to the Odisha tragedy, one of the deadliest train accidents in India. In a tweet on June 4, Odisha Police said severe action would be taken against those who were trying to create communal disharmony by spreading rumours.
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