School van crushes 3-year-old student in Civil Lines

The driver did not realise he had hit the child and ended up dragging him about 10 feet. Later, he stopped the car and I saw Rana’s father Hitender, who had come down by that time. Both of them pulled out Rana but it was too late.

NEW DELHI: A three and a halfyear-old boy was run over by his school van outside his house in north Delhi on Tuesday.

Abhiral Rana was waiting to cross the road after being dropped by school van when he was crushed as the driver could not spot him while reversing the van.

Rana’s parents who were standing on the balcony of their first floor flat in Civil Lines railway colony saw the accident. Abhiral was a student of the John Wesley preparatory school in Tis Hazari.

“Around 11.40 am, I heard a child’s cry. I came out and to my horror saw Rana crushed and stuck under the left wheel of the Eeco van,” said Sunil Kumar, a neighbour.

“The driver did not realise he had hit the child and ended up dragging him to about 10 feet. Later, he stopped the car and I saw Rana’s father Hitender, who had come down by that time. Both of them pulled out Rana but it was too late,” the neighbour said.

The child was then taken to Sant Parmanand hospital in the same van. The doctors declared A NEIGHBOUR OF THE VICTIM him brought dead. Hitender, a senior railway technician, said he had stopped dropping his son to school only a month ago.

“I used to drop him at school but last month we hired a cab after his school timings changed. I regret my decision,” said Hitender.

An investigating officer said Rana had got down from the van and was waiting to cross the road. The driver, Rahul, swiftly took a U-turn was going back to drop other children, when he hit Rana.

DCP North (Madhur Verma) said Rahul,28, has been arrested and a case under section 279 and 304 A registered against him.