A five-year-old girl visiting her uncle and aunt in Calcutta from Uttar Pradesh was crushed under the wheels of a private bus at the Curzon Park bus stand on Thursday evening.

Kavita Gupta, whose parents live in Sultanpur, was going with her uncle and aunt to Howrah station to catch the Kalka Mail.

The child tried to jump off the footboard of the front gate of an SD9 bus as it was pulling into the bus stand around 6pm. She lost her balance and fell down before being crushed by the rear wheels of the bus.

Kavita was taken to Medical College and Hospital, where she was declared dead.

“We were headed for a meeting of the Nirankari Satsang in New Delhi. We took the bus from near our Pailan Haat home. My wife Chandravati was holding Kavita’s hand as we were getting off at Curzon Park. The girl fell down before we could react,” said Kavita’s uncle Radheshyam Gupta.

“I still have not been able to inform my brother about Kavita’s death. I don’t know what to say,” added Radheshyam.

The bus was impounded and the driver, Rishikesh Pal, arrested.

“I have nothing to say. I never realised that such an accident could take place even after the bus had slowed down,” said Pal.