Speeding DTC bus jumps pavement, crushes one, injures three in Punjabi Bagh

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) dragged the four to a few metres before coming to a stop. The victim, Raja Thakur, used to sell flowers on the pavement. The errant bus driver has been arrested.

A 25-year-old florist was killed while three others were critically injured after a speeding Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) low floor AC bus jumped a footpath and crushed them in west Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh on Sunday morning.

The low-floor DTC bus which hit four people on the pavement in Punjabi Bagh, killing one of them, on Sunday. (HT Photo)

The victim was identified as Raja Thakur, who is a native of Bihar. He lived with his family in Paschim Vihar. The three injured included two florists, Rakesh and Mithun, and a scrap collector, identified as Shankar. Police said the three used to sell bouquets on the pavement.

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The errant bus driver, identified as Sandeep Kumar, 40, was arrested after local residents caught him at the accident spot. Kumar was booked for rash and negligent driving causing death and hurt. The FIR was registered at the Punjabi Bagh police station. Police also seized the bus involved in the accident. There were around 25 passengers in the bus at the time of the accident. They escaped unhurt.

The driver of an auto-rickshaw that was ahead of the DTC bus applied brakes suddenly to take a U-turn. As the bus driver was following the auto in speed, he too took a sharp turn to avoid hitting the three-wheeler.

“The bus driver lost control over the bus and it climbed the footpath and ran over four men. They were dragged some feet on the footpath and were stuck under the bus,” Ravindra, an eyewitness told the police.

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Other eyewitnesses told police that bus was in such speed that even after hitting the pavement, it first hit an electric pole then a tree before running over the four men.

A passerby called the police control room after which a police team along with a crane reached the accident spot and rescued the four victims from under the bus. They took almost half an hour to rescue the men. They were all taken to Maharaja Agrasen hospital where Raja was declared dead on arrival. The condition of the other three was stated to be serious, said police.

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