Ahmedabad: 9 dead, 13 injured as speeding car ploughs into crowd at accident site
Ahmedabad (PTI): At least nine persons were killed and around 10 others injured when a speeding car ploughed into a crowd gathered at an accident site on a bridge in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Thursday, police said.
A constable and a Home Guard jawan, who reached the spot after the first accident of a collision involving two vehicles, were among those killed in the incident, they said.
The accident took place at around 1 am at ISKCON bridge on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in Satellite area of the city when the Jaguar car moving at a very high speed ploughed into a crowd gathered there, the police said.
"At around 1 am, a Thar (SUV) collided with a truck at ISKCON Bridge on SG Highway. After receiving information about the accident, local traffic police and a Home Guard jawan reached the spot to manage the traffic and handle the situation. Out of curiosity, several bystanders also gathered at the spot to check what had happened," Satellite police station inspector K Y Vyas said.
"When they were on the bridge, a speeding Jaguar car rammed into the crowd, killing five persons on the spot, while four persons died during treatment. The deceased included a constable and a Home Guard jawan. Nearly 10 persons who received injuries were admitted to different hospitals," he said.
The car driver, Tathya Patel, was also admitted to a private hospital as he too received injuries, the official said.
According to sources, the angry bystanders thrashed the car driver and a video of it was captured by a person standing below the bridge.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Neeta Desai said an FIR has been registered in this connection and the police will try their best to ensure the kin of the victims get justice.
"Nine persons were killed and 10 to 11 people were injured in the accident. It does not appear to be a case of drunk driving. But our primary investigation has revealed the speed of the Jaguar car was extremely high. Since (car driver) Tathya Patel is under treatment, we will arrest him once doctors give a go-ahead," Desai said at the Sola Civil Hospital.
Most of the deceased and injured youth belonged to other cities and were living here as paying guests, as per sources.
After learning about the first accident, they went on the bridge out of curiosity. Minutes later, the speeding car came from Karnavati Club side and ran over the crowd, they said.
The parents and other family members of the deceased reached the Sola Civil Hospital and demanded harshest punishment for the accused.
The crossroads under the ISKCON bridge is a popular hangout spot for youngsters during night hours, as they gather there to have tea and snacks.
Many people wanting to travel to other towns and cities also gather at the ISKCON crossroads to catch buses or private vehicles.
VIDEO | Nine persons were killed and 13 injured after a speeding luxury car ploughed into a crowd at an accident site on a flyover in Ahmedabad earlier today.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 20, 2023
The accident occurred past midnight at ISKCON bridge on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway when the car, reported to be… pic.twitter.com/kn0foFnIJM
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Not surprised EC gave itself clean chit: Cong slams poll panel on Haryana complaints
Warns ECI of legal action over 'condescending' tone
New Delhi, Nov 1: The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations of "irregularities" in Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to "strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality", then it is doing a "remarkable job" at creating that impression.
The opposition party claimed that the EC's reply was written in a tone that is condescending and warned that if the poll panel persists with such language then it would have no choice but to seek legal recourse for getting such remarks expunged.
The Congress's response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over "irregularities" in assembly polls, saying the party was raising "the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome as done in the past.
The Congress said it is not surprised that the ECI has examined its complaints and "given itself a clean chit". The answer given to the question of the machines' fluctuating batteries seeks to confuse rather than clarify, it said.
"At any rate, the ECI reply is nothing more than a standard and generic set of bullets on how the machines function rather than a specific clarification on specific complaints. In short, while our complaints were specific the ECI response is generic and focused on diminishing the complaints and the petitioners," the Congress said.
In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, "We have carefully studied your response to our complaints. Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself. We would normally have let it be at that. However, the tone and tenor of the ECI's response, the language used, and the allegations made against the INC compel us to submit the counter-response."
The Congress letter said that if the Commission grants a recognised national party a hearing or examines issues raised by them in good faith it is not an 'exception' or 'indulgence' but it is the performance of a duty required to be done.
"If the Commission is refusing to grant us a hearing or refusing to engage on certain complaints (which it has done in the past) then the law allows recourse to the higher courts' extraordinary jurisdiction to compel the ECI to discharge this function (as happened in 2019)," the letter said.
The Congress leaders, who had petitioned the EC alleging irregularities in the polls, said every reply from the EC now "seems to be laced with ad-hominem attacks" on either individual leaders or the party itself.
"The ECI's reply are written in a tone that is condescending. If the current ECI's goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality, then it is doing a remarkable job at creating that impression," the party said in its letter to the EC.
"Judges who write decisions do not attack or demonise the party raising the issues. However, if the ECI persists then we shall have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks," said the letter signed by Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Singhvi, Uday Bhan, Partap Bajwa and Pawan Khera.
They also said that the "pattern" sought to be identified by the ECI in its reply is "disingenuous" as sometimes acting on complaints immediately is the key.
"If they are not redressed on the ground then they become redundant. And then the only remedy available is an Election Petition which is a lengthy process taking years to resolve. Thus, we approach the ECI with whatever information we have, and the ECI with the vast resources at its command, examines and reviews this information to see if the same is correct. Many times, the ECI has found our information to be correct. Other times, not so. But we do not name and shame the ECI for those moments after the Election is over," they said.
The Congress said if they were "bad faith actors", then they would never engage with the ECI to begin with. "We would focus on naming and shaming the Commission with examples from the ECI's own recent history which do not shroud it with glory," it said, adding that they would have never engaged in that case.
The Congress said it has sent over a hundred complaints against the prime minister and home minister, but "the ECI has taken action in precisely zero complaints, while calling our party president and former party president to account for their actions/speeches".
"We would point out how the ECI never published a dissent note, actively suppressing it instead, by a former Commissioner in this regard. We would point out that the ECI has almost always fought any move for transparency and increase in VVPAT verification numbers, with the same having to be ordered by the Supreme Court. We challenge the ECI to fact check the above since it finds the INC's misgivings to be based on phantoms," the Congress said.
In a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the poll panel had said such "frivolous and unfounded" doubts have the potential of creating "turbulence" when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties' anxiousness is peaking.
The BJP retained power in Haryana winning 48 of the 90 seats in the October 5 assembly polls.
