School boy's death: DM finds bus was blacklisted

ghaziabad: Following the tragic incident where a nine-year-old boy died when his head hit a pole while he peeked out of his school bus, district authorities have found that the bus was plying on roads despite being blacklisted by the RTO department. Now, two assistant regional transport managers and one Regional Inspector in Ghaziabad have been suspended for laxity in duties.

The administrative actions have been over the report submitted by the district magistrate which was sought by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in connection with the matter. The two ARTOs Vishwajeet Pratap Singh, Satish Kumar Mishra and one RI Prem Singh have been suspended in the case, a senior officer informed.

"While probing the case, it came to light that the RI has done the fitness check of the bus. The bus was blacklisted by the RTO department as the bus fitness certificate has expired, even after that the bus was plying on the road and the concerned officials didn't take any action on it," a senior administrative officer said.

Class four student, Anurag Bharadwaj, died while peeping out of the school bus and his head hit an iron pole. In this case, the family members of the child and other parents held the school management and administration responsible and now the DM's report has vindicated this stand by showing that the school was using a blacklisted bus.

The child's mother had registered a case against the chairman of Modi Industries and the owner of the school (Dayawati Modi School), Umesh Kumar Modi, the principal Netrapal and the driver Omveer and the management. While the accused bus driver Omveer and cleaner Jagveer were sent to jail on Thursday, the school principal, Netrapal, was released from the police station after interrogations.

On Thursday, scores of parents along with the victim's family staged a sit-in protest outside the school premises and tried to block the traffic. Modinagar's Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shubhanshi Shukla, along with other administrative officials tried to pacify the protesters but a heated argument broke out between the SDM and family members after which the SDM lost her cool and started shouting at the grieving mother to "shut up". She kept saying, "Enough. Shut up. Just shut up!"

Meanwhile, Ghaziabad police have booked Lokendra Kumar Arya, a resident of Modinagar along with 50 unknown persons for making objectionable post on the social media sites in connecting with the death of Anurag Bharadwaj.

"When the family were protesting outside the Modinagar police station, the accused had sent their associates to jam the road on Delhi Meerut Expressway. Even, Lokendra was posting over Anurag death to provoke people," said Dr Iraz Raja, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Ghaziabad.

An FIR has been lodged against Lokendra and his 50 associates under the section 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 283 (Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of IPC and relevant sections of IT act.