A case has been registered against the driver, conductor and the bus owner in connection with the Khargone bus accident in which 23 people died and over 30 sustained injuries, a police official said on Wednesday.
The accident occurred after a private passenger fell from Dongargaon bridge near the Dasanga area under Oon police station limits in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district around 8:30 am on Tuesday.
Khargone Superintendent of Police (SP) Dharmaveer Singh said, “In the primary evidence of the bus accident that occurred on Tuesday (May 9), it has come to the fore that overloading was a big reason and negligent driving. The speed of the bus was high. Experts have also examined it on Wednesday morning.”
“We have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the bus driver, conductor and bus owner. The injured told the police that the bus owner and conductor together had made passengers overloaded in the bus and because of that the incident happened. The driver is currently admitted in the hospital and he is in police custody. The conductor died on the spot. The bus owner is absconding and he will be arrested soon,” SP Singh said.
Besides, following the instruction of the state government on overloading, an operation was started to take action against the overloading vehicles whether it is passenger vehicle or a goods vehicle in the district. So far, action has been taken against about 57 vehicles, the officer added.
Notably, soon after the accident, the state government had announced immediate financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the deceased, Rs 50,000 each to the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 each to those who received minor injuries in the accident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also expressed grief over the bus accident and announced ex-gratia for the families of the deceased and the ones injured.
The Prime Minister announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the next kin of those deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
This report is filed by ANI news service.
