The principal of the school whose bus overturned in Haryana’s Mahendragarh, killing six children, is among three people who have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The driver, who allegedly jumped out of the bus just before it rammed into a tree, has also been taken into custody, along with the secretary of the school.
A senior police official said the medical test conducted on the driver has confirmed that alcohol was present in his bloodstream. Officials said fourteen of the students who were hospitalised after the accident have been discharged but three are critical.
Students from Class 4 to 10 were heading to the GL Public School on Thursday when the bus carrying them rammed into a tree and overturned. The bus belonged to the school and documents showed that the bus’ fitness certificate had expired six years ago, in 2018. A state road transport official has been suspended.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahendra Rana said in Hindi, “A case has been registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and others. Sections of the Motor Vehicle Act have also been applied because the fitness certificate was not valid. The driver, Dharmendra, the principal, Dipti, and a staff member, Hoshiyar Singh, who was a secretary and looked after the buses and other such matters, have been arrested”
“A medical test has confirmed that alcohol was present in the driver’s bloodstream,” Mr Rana added.
To a question on local residents claiming that, half an hour before the accident, some of them had stopped the bus and informed the school authorities that the driver was drunk, the police officer said the statement of the person who made the claim has been recorded. He also revealed that a challan had been issued against the bus recently.
State Education Minister Seema Trikha said an inquiry is being conducted to establish why classes were being held in the school on Eid, which is a holiday.
“The school should not have been open today. A show-cause notice has been issued and, apart from that, we have taken self-affidavits from private schools. The schools will have to provide an affidavit stating that transport vehicles used by them are following the transport rules,” she said.