Indore, Jan 6 (PTI) Amid an outrage over the death offour students of the Delhi Public School (DPS) here in a roadaccident, the police today booked the driver of the ill-fatedbus, who too perished in the crash, for culpable homicide.
Besides Rahul Sisodia, who was driving the school bus inwhich the students were on their way home, some unidentifiedpersons were also booked on the same charge (unintentional butunlawful killing of someone), an official said.
The ghastly mishap occurred at the Kanadiya bypass whenthe speeding bus rammed into a truck yesterday.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manoj Kumar Raitold PTI that an FIR was lodged at the Kanadiya police stationunder IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting tomurder) against Sisodia (35) and some unidentified persons.
He said a probe was on and the responsibility for theaccident would be fixed after it was completed.
"We will fix the criminal responsibility after theinvestigation is over. We will take appropriate legal stepsagainst all those concerned," the ASP added.
Sisodia had lost control of the bus, which broke thedivider and entered a parallel lane, before colliding head-onwith the truck, the police had said.
Four schoolkids, aged between six and 12 years, werekilled in the incident, while nine other students and thedriver's assistant were injured.
Officials said prima facie, it appeared that a serioustechnical problem in the vehicle's steering or carelessness onthe part of the driver had led to the accident.
However, the actual cause would be known only when theprobe was completed, they added.
Meanwhile, people took to the social media to expressgrief over the accident. They also blamed the transportdepartment and the school management for the tragedy.
However, DPS Indore principal Sudarshan Sonar claimedthat the ill-fated bus was fully fit to run on the roads.
According to the information available on the transportdepartment's website, the bus (MP 09 FA 2029) was 15-year-oldand it was registered in the name of DPS, which was its thirdowner.
According to sources, the Indore RTO, in a report sent tothe state transport commissioner, said the 34-seater bus wasissued a fitness certificate on December 26, 2017 (10 daysbefore the accident) and it was valid till December 25, 2018.
It has also been reported that a GPS device and CCTVcameras were installed in the bus as per norms.
Meanwhile, most private schools remained closed heretoday to mourn the death of the children killed in theaccident.
The major markets of the city, the commercial capital ofMadhya Pradesh, also downed shutters for half-a-day to expresssolidarity with the grieving families. PTI HWP ADU MAS RSYRC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
