Chandigarh: Two killed, three injured as midi-bus hits a car

TWO PEOPLE were killed and three injured in a road accident late on Saturday night after a midi-bus hit a car at PCL light point.

All the injured were admitted to a private hospital in the city. The bus driver managed to escape from the spot along with two other persons who were in the bus. The police impounded the bus and started an investigation.

A PCR team which was present near the spot when the incident happened at 2 am drew criticism from an eyewitness, Chetan Prashar, who described himself as a social activist. He posted a comment on Facebook blaming the PCR party for not helping the accident victims. He, along with some youths, helped the injured, he claimed.

The deceased were identified as Jarnail Singh, 45, and his cousin Sukhwinder Singh, 40. Jarnail was a resident of Phase 3B1 while Sukhwinder hailed from Anandpur Sahib but was living with Sukhwinder’s family. Jarnail was an employee of Fortis hospital while Sukhwinder worked in a private company.

According to the police, the accident occurred when Jarnail, along with his wife Arvinder Kaur, son Amandeep Singh, Sukhwinder and Jarnail’s brother-in-law Navjeet Singh were going home after meeting a relative admitted to a hospital at Sohana.

Prashar, who said he was the only eyewitness to the accident, saw the car driven by Jarnail approach PCL light point. At the same time, a midi-bus which was coming from Balongi side took a right turn towards the direction from which Jaswinder was nearing the light point.

One lane of this road was closed for repair work. As a result, the bus, being driven at a high speed, and the car were on the same side of the road. The bus hit the car on its left side, leaving both Jarnail and Sukhwinder, who was in the passenger seat, dead on the spot in the high-impact collision.

Arvinder Kaur, Navjeet Singh and Amandeep Singh who suffered serious injuries in the accident were taken to Fortis hospital by some students who were passing by some 15 minutes after the accident. The condition of Arvinder and Navjeet was stated to be serious while Amandeep was said to be out of danger.

The police impounded the bus and registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the driver who was yet to be identified.

Passerby accuses PCR of inaction
CHETAN Prashar, who took the injured to the hospital, accused a PCR party which was present less than a half kilometre from the accident spot of not co-operating with them. He also posted a comment on his social networking site alleging that he requested the cops to help him in taking the injured to the hospital but the cops did not listen to him. He even abused the cops for their non-cooperation.

Speaking to Chandigarh Newsline, Prashar said that when the accident occurred, he was also going towards Balongi on his bike and was a few metres from the accident spot. He alleged that when he saw that the bus driver was running after hitting the car, he chased the bus on his two-wheeler but the driver and two other persons who were in the bus managed to escape from the spot. He said that after failing to catch the bus driver, he then went to a nearby light point to seek help from the PCR party which was present there.

Prashar alleged that the PCR personnel told him to call on the helpline number which he did but the number was busy. He said that then he stopped some youths who were going to take dinner at an eatery in the Industrial Area. They flagged down a car and took the injured to the hospital.

However, reacting to the allegations of non-cooperation by the PCR, the Station House Officer of Mataur, Mahesh Saini, said that he would look into the matter and if the PCR party had done anything wrong then action would be taken against them according to rules.