Kanpur (UP), Jan 31 (PTI) Six people were killed and seven injured, three of whom are in critical condition, after an off-duty electric bus rammed into multiple vehicles in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, officials said on Monday.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and several other political leaders expressed grief over the incident that took place around 10.30 PM on Sunday in the Rail Bazar area of Kanpur.
The private agency engaged for electric bus operations has extended financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased, Rs 1 lakh to the severely injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries in the crash, the officials said.
According to witnesses, the driver moved the bus onto the wrong side of the road after which it rammed into auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, cars and a traffic booth between Ghantaghar and Tat Mill Crossing on Sunday night.
It then hit a truck and broke down, they said.
The driver of the bus, identified as Satendra Kumar Singh, has been arrested, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pramod Kumar confirmed the casualties in the accident. Kumar, who rushed to the site late in the night, said several cars and motorcycles were damaged.
Upon interrogation, the driver said that he lost control over the vehicle leading the bus to ram into several vehicles at Tatmil crossing killing six people, police said.
The deceased have been identified as Shubham Sonkar, Sunil Sonkar, Arslan, Ajit Kumar and Mukul Rathore, all residents of the city, police said.
On Monday evening, Divisional Commissioner Kanpur Raj Shekhar said of the seven injured, the three in critical condition have been hospitalized, while the remaining four were discharged after basic treatment.
He said at the time of the incident, there was no passenger or conductor on the bus and the driver was taking it to the charging depot Ahirwan after the day’s schedule.
A detailed probe is underway while an inquiry committee at the state government level has also been formed which will visit Kanpur to investigate the case, Shekhar said.
The divisional commissioner said electric buses in the city are operated by private agency Tirthankar City Bus Operations Private Limited which has been contracted through the Kanpur City Transport Services Limited (KCTSL).
The district administration is contacting the families of the victims so that the compensation amount could be disbursed at the earliest, Raj Shekhar said.
Officials are also checking the Vehicle Tracking System, CCTV recording of the bus and CCTV installed at the intersection of the incident site so that corrective action can be taken, the senior IAS officer said.
KCTSL has also initiated a separate investigation into the case so that such incidents could be prevented in future, he added.
An FIR has been registered at the Rail Bazar police station under Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (endangering lives by negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder), officials said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati were also among the leaders who condoled the deaths in the incident. PTI CORR ABN KIS NAV NSD NSD
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Source: The Print
