Driver of Badals’ bus who mowed down father-son in Ludhiana held
A day after a man and his son were crushed to death by a bus belonging to a company owned by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and his family, the driver, Amritpal Singh of Jhajjal village in Bathinda, was arrested from Mullanpur Dakha area on Friday. He has been booked for causing death due to negligence (Section 304 A of the IPC).
A day after a man and his son were crushed to death by a bus belonging to a company owned by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and his family, the driver, Amritpal Singh of Jhajjal village in Bathinda, was arrested from Mullanpur Dakha area on Friday. He has been booked for causing death due to negligence (Section 304 A of the IPC).
What Happened?: Badals’ bus kills father-son in Ludhiana, Sukhbir brushes it off
Hardev Singh (60) and his son Manjit Singh (28) were mowed down by a bus of Dabwali Transport Company on Thursday. An angry crowd had set the killer bus afire.
On Friday, the family of the deceased refused to cremate the bodies, demanding arrest of the bus owners even as heavy police force was deployed at Baddowal village to maintain law and order.
The family agreed to cremate the bodies on Saturday only after Akali MLA from Dakha Manpreet Singh Ayali met them and held parleys for three hours in the presence of members of Baddowal panchayat and bus company representatives.
Baddowal sarpanch Amarjot Singh said the victims’ family had reached a compromise with the bus company, but refused to divulge details. Sources said the bus operator had agreed to pay Rs 25 lakh to the family as compensation, but nobody came on record to corroborate this.
On Thursday, residents of Baddowal demanded Rs 60-lakh compensation to the family, along with government job to one of the family members.
Mann visits family; demands murder case against bus owners
Aam Aadmi Party’s Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann visited the family and demanded that a murder case be registered against the owner of the bus company.
Calling it “road terrorism”, Mann said the buses owned by Badals were “ruining families”.
He said if the AAP came to power in the next assembly elections, an investigation will be done to find out how only the buses owned by the Badals got the long-route permits.
He said the AAP will launch an agitation if the victim family didn’t get justice.
He criticised deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for his “Koi kamm di gal karo” statement, saying it was insensitive.
He also called up the Jagraon SSP to know the status of the case.
All accidents are painful: Badal
Khanna: Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said all accidents are painful. “Accident koi vi hove, dukhdai haunda hai. Accident taan kisse vi company di gaddi naal ho sakda hai (All mishaps are painful and they can occur with vehicles of any company),” he said when pointed out that the killer bus belonged to Dabwali Transport Company owned by his family.
The chief minister was in Khanna to attend a sangat darshan on Friday.
Licences issued to Badals’ buses be cancelled: Channi
Chandigarh: Leader of the Congress legislature party in the Vidhan Sabha Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday wrote to the Punjab chief secretary, requesting to cancel the licences of all buses owned by the Badal family.
“The fearless behaviour of the drivers of these buses is compounding the agonies of hapless families. The operators of these buses have become so emboldened that they threaten people who question them,” Channi said.
He said Baddowal mishap was not an isolated accident in which a bus owned by the Badal family was involved and cited nine similar fatal mishaps.
He also appealed to the people of Punjab to stop travelling in the “killer busses”.