Bus involved in Meerut expressway accident that killed 6 had been challaned 15 times before: Police

Ghaziabad (UP), July 12

The bus involved in the Meerut expressway accident which killed six people has been earlier challaned 15 times, including thrice for being driven on the wrong side of the road – a violation that allegedly caused the Tuesday morning collision.

Police on Tuesday arrested the driver and the owner of the bus, which hit the SUV carrying eight persons. Six members of a family died and two were severely injured in the accident with the bus moving on the wrong side of an expressway here, police said.

While bus owner Sandip Chowdhary was arrested from his flat at a housing society in Gautam Buddh Nagar, driver Prem Pal, who was detained at the accident spot on Delhi Meerut Expressway (NH9) was also formally arrested, they said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP), Wave City, Ravi Praksh Singh said that the bus was challaned online 15 times, including thrice for driving on the wrong side.

The accident had taken place around 6 am on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway as the bus was plying on the wrong side of the expressway after refilling CNG near the Ghazipur border. The bus was attached to the Bal Bharti School of Noida, police said, and added there were no students in it at the time of the accident. The family was travelling in the SUV, which was headed for Gurugram from Meerut.

The deceased were identified as Narendra (45), his wife Anita (40), sons Deepanshu (15) and Himanshu (12), niece Vanshika (7) and sister-in-law Babita (35).

Narendra’s brother Dharmendra (40) and his son Kartik (5) sustained severe injuries and are undergoing treatment at a private hospital, police said.