Gonda. Two youths died on the spot and a woman was seriously injured when a vehicle in the convoy of BJP candidate from Kaiserganj, Karan Bhushan Singh, hit their car in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Police sources said that the accused driver has been arrested. Karan Bhushan Singh is the son of outgoing MP from Kaiserganj and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Police from four police stations have been deployed to maintain peace at the spot.
Police sources said here that Karan Bhushan Singh was going with his convoy from Colonelganj towards Huzurpur in Bahraich district, when on the way near Baikunth Degree College, after the vehicle of the BJP candidate leading the convoy passed, a car carrying security personnel went out of control and hit a motorcycle. They said that in this accident, both the youths riding the motorcycle – Rehan Khan (17) and Shahjad Khan (20) died on the spot. According to police sources, 60-year-old Sita Devi, who was walking on the side of the road, was also seriously injured after being hit by the uncontrolled vehicle after the collision, who has been admitted to the medical college.
Sources said that after the collision, the people in the vehicle fled from the spot in other vehicles of the convoy. According to the police, tension prevailed at the spot after the incident and the local people shouted slogans against the police administration at the spot and blocked the Colonelganj-Huzurpur road and insisted on not taking the bodies of the youths for postmortem until the culprits were arrested.
As soon as the incident was reported, senior police and administrative officials reached the spot and assured the angry people of strict action against the culprits. After that the jam was cleared and the body was sent for post-mortem. Police sources said that the crowd also tried to set the damaged vehicle on fire, but the police force present on the spot foiled it. Additional Superintendent of Police (West) Radheshyam Rai said that the accused driver Lavkush Srivastava (30) has been arrested.
After preparing the Panchnama of the bodies of both the deceased youths, they were handed over to their families late in the evening. In this case, the police have registered an FIR at the local police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Motor Vehicles Act and have arrested the driver and seized the vehicle. A police officer, on the condition of anonymity, said that there were a total of four vehicles in this convoy, in which BJP candidate Karan Bhushan Singh was sitting in the leading vehicle, while the vehicle in which the accident took place was at the rear of the convoy.
This officer, who returned after inspecting the spot, said that the speed of the vehicle which went out of control after hitting the motorcycle can be estimated from the fact that more than a dozen cement poles installed in the fields along the road to protect against stray animals were badly damaged. He told that the vehicle which caused the accident is registered in the name of Nandini Educational Institute in the Transport Department. According to the officer, this vehicle was also fined two thousand rupees for violating traffic rules on 21 December 2023, which has not been paid yet. ‘Police Escort’ is written on the rear glass of the vehicle.
He said that being an expensive car, its safety features are so good that when the airbags installed inside opened, the people riding in it were completely safe, while the front part of the car was badly damaged and its tyre also got punctured after getting stuck in the barbed wire on the roadside. Family member Naushad said that one of the children Rehan was unwell, for whose treatment Shahzad was coming to Colonelganj by motorcycle. He said that Shahzad had recently come from Dubai and he had an accident with a vehicle of the convoy near Chhatai Purwa.