Bus with Ravish on board pelted with stones

GORAKHPUR: Unidentified people pelted stones at a UP government bus, injuring a passenger, police said here on Wednesday.

Ramon Magsaysay awardwinning journalist Ravish Kumar was among those on the UPSRTC bus (from Deoria to Lucknow) that was attacked while passing through the Kusmhi jungle area on Tuesday night. The Cantonment police registered an FIR at about 1 am Wednesday on the basis of a complaint filed by bus driver Awadh Bihari.

SHO Ravi Kant said a glass pane was broken and a person injured. The driver transferred all passengers to another bus after first aid was given to the injured passenger.

“Police have launched an investigation and are going through CCTV footage,” he added. Gorakhpur SSP Sunil

Kumar Gupta said the driver didn’t stop the bus when it was attacked and was not able to say anything about the assailants.

Ravish Kumar later posted pictures of the bus on Facebook.

A passenger and a driver were injured in the attack, claimed Kumar, who said he called up SSP Gorakhpur to inform about the incident. The SSP told HT, “I can’t say if Ravish Kumar called me to lodge a complaint as I was on leave.” According to Ravish’s post, the bus full of passengers was attacked around 11 pm near Chauri Chaura Dhala area.

“The attackers, some of whom were in car and some on a bike, tried to stop the bus by honking repeatedly. When the driver, sensing trouble, didn’t stop the bus, they started throwing stones on it. The driver, Awadh Bihari, a resident of Unnao, was also hit by brick but continued to drive,” the post read.