The son of a Congress leader and one another person have been arrested for driving a car into a group of villagers celebrating Dussehra on Monday night, killing a four-year-old boy and injuring 12 others, 4 of them critically, in Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh.
Romit Rathore (25), the son of ex-mayor and district Congress leader Mamta Rathore, and his friend Saurabh Kutare (26) were arrested on Tuesday from an adjoining jungle where they had fled. Romit Rathore’s father Om Rathore is also a Congress worker – he is the treasurer of the district Congress unit.
Earlier, locals had staged a protest and blocked Raipur-Gariaband road and National Highway 130 for hours on Tuesday demanding strict action against the accused and compensation for the victims. They also picketed the accused’s house demanding his arrest.
The incident took place at around 11.30 pm on Monday at Malgaon when villagers were celebrating Dussehra.
“A child had accidentally thrown something on Romit’s car’s dashboard, which infuriated him and his three friends. The accused first threatened the villagers and seemed to have driven away. But he reversed the car and drove over the crowd. A minor, who had come under the car’s wheels, died in a local hospital and 11 others were injured,” said Sukhnandan Rathore, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Gariaband.
The accused were apprehended from a forest near Nagabudha village and have been booked under section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC based on the complaint of a villager, the ASP said.
“We have identified the other two accused after recording Romit’s statement. Raids are in progress and efforts are on to nab them at the earliest,” the ASP added.
As per Dainik Bhaskar, the 4-year-old who was crushed to death is Mosin Sinha. His father Sohan Sinha was also critically injured along with Pokharam Sinha, Mo. Izmam and Thakur Ram Nishad – these four have been shifted to Raipur for treatment in view of their critical condition.
कांग्रेसी नेत्री के बेटे ने 12 से अधिक लोगों पर गाड़ी चढ़ाई, एक की मौके पर ही मौत, 11 लोगों का उपचार जारी, 4 की हालत गंभीर , ग्रामीणों ने नेशनल हाईवे किया जाम। छत्तीसगढ़ के गरियाबंद जिले की घटना @CG_Police @ipsvijrk @ipskabra @ndtvindia @tamradhwajsahu0 @TS_SinghDeo @vinodkapri pic.twitter.com/Nn1hgKvxQc
— Somesh Patel 🇮🇳 (@Someshpatel00) October 27, 2020
Others who were injured in the incident – Tikeshwar Sinha, Tikeshwar Devangan, Himanshu Nishad, Kamalnarayan Nishad Rajendra Nishad, Basant Nishad, have been admitted in district hospital. It appears that a wooden sword had accidentally struck Romit Rathore’s car due to which he flew into a rage.
A few days back, Tauseef, the nephew of Congress MLA from Nuh, Haryana, had shot dead college student Nikita Tomar that he had been stalking and harassing for many years.
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