Drivers of ‘rashly driven’ car, motorcycle booked

Bathinda, November 29

The families of the four persons, who were killed in the bus-car mishap which took place on the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway in Goniana block on Thursday, are in shock. The parents and relatives of the victims were crying and were inconsolable.

The three out of the four victims are from Faridkot district while the fourth victim, 10-year-old Maninder Singh, is of Phulomithi village in Bathinda district and his parents and brother and sister were also injured in the accident.

On the statement of the bus driver, the Nehiawala police on Friday registered a case against the unidentified car and motorcycle drivers, who caused the accident. Even the bodies of the victims were handed over to their families after a postmortem.

The victims were cremated at their villages on Friday evening. The CPI union has accused district administration officials for not announcing any financial assistance for the deceased and the injured. They alleged that no district administration official reached the hospital to express their condolences to the bereaved families.

In his statement given to the police, bus driver Baldev Singh, a resident of Faridkot, said, “Myself was driving a Green Private Transport Company bus (PB-04 M 9885), which was going from Bathinda to Faridkot. When he reached near Goniana Khurd, a rashly driven car (PB 60 C 4789) coming from the Kotkapura side jumped the divider and rammed into my bus. As I saw the car coming towards the bus, I tried to save the car, but lost control of it and it turned turtle on the road.

Gurditta Singh (30) of Bajakhana, Maninder Singh (10) of Phuomithi, Mayank Arora (29) of Kotkapura and Amandeep Kaur (27) of Burj Jawahar Singh Wala were killed on the spot while many passengers were injured in the incident. Sources said the car crossed over to the other side of the highway after hitting the divider while trying to save a biker who was coming from the wrong direction. — TNS