Three members of a family, including two teenagers, who were visiting pandals on Dashami night died after being hit by a private bus on the Sealdah flyover, police said.
Several others were injured in the accident. One of them — Aditi Gupta, 18, a resident of Ekbalpore — died on the spot. Rahul Kumar Prasad, 30, also from Ekbalpore, and Nandini Kumari,15, from Howrah, died in the hospital a few hours later, the police said.
Three other members of the same family were injured. They were Rahat Gupta, Rishi Gupta, 15, and Nilesh Gupta, 15. All are from Ekbalpore. They have been admitted to a hospital with multiple injuries.
A bus on route 46 hit the pedestrians, crushing a few under its wheels, around 1am on Thursday.“The bus was not ferrying any passenger and was speeding along the flyover. There was no evidence that it was racing another bus,” said an officer of the Sealdah traffic guard.
The bus has been seized. It will be sent for a mechanical test to ascertain whether any snag had led to the accident, the police said. Pedestrians are not allowed on the flyover but on Puja days the police were lax in enforcing the rule for the benefit of pandal-hoppers, sources said. The flyover over APC Road has two flanks, one of which merges with MG Road and other with Beleghata Main Road.
Thousands of people visit pandals by walking across the city. Many of them walk through the night. The police said the victims and those who were injured were members of the same family and had stepped out for pandal-hopping.
Aditi and Nandini were students, while Rahul worked at a private firm that sells mobile phones. He is survived by his mother, his wife and a month-old child, a family member said. The police said the driver of the bus fled. Conductor Nuruddin Khan and helper Bablu Khan have been arrested.
The driver and the helper have been charged under IPC sections on rash and negligent driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder (part -II).
