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 of the bus moved it 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 and that the driver of the bus was being interrogated. On Monday evening, Divisional Commissioner Kanpur Raj Shekhar said that of the seven injured, the three in critical condition are hospitalized, while the remaining four were discharged after basic treatment. He said that at the time of the incident, there were no passengers 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, he 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).
Expressing grief over the incident, the private agency, which maintains, operates electric buses and deploys conductors and drivers on them has extended financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh to those seriously injured and Rs 50,000 to the injured, he said. 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 (VTS), CCTV recording of the bus and CCTV installed at the intersection of the incident site so that corrective action can be taken after knowing the correct facts, the senior IAS officer said. KCTSL has also initiated a separate investigation into the case at their level 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. President Kovind, Prime Minister Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, among others, condoled the deaths.
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