U'khand: Child among 4 killed, 23 hurt as bus falls into deep gorge in Bhimtal
Nainital, Dec 25: Four people, including a woman and a child, died and 23 got injured after a roadways bus fell into a 1,500 ft deep gorge in Bhimtal's Saldi area on Wednesday.
The roadways bus with 27 people on board, including the driver and the conductor bus, was coming from Pithoragarh, Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat told reporters.
Four deaths have been confirmed. The injured have been brought in ambulances to Sushila Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani, he said.
Those killed have been identified as Khadak Singh (55), his wife Ganga Dhami (48), Surendra Singh Dharmasattu (58) and Daksh Pant (6), an official said.
They were from Dharchula, Pithoragarh and Berinag respectively.
"The locals were the first to learn about the incident as is often the case. Even I came to know about it from locals," Rawat said.
Most of the injured are in the general ward but some of them are also likely to be shifted to the ICU, he said.
The vehicle plunged into a 1,500 ft deep gorge, Bhowali Circle Officer Sumit Pandey said.
The injured were first rushed to the Community Health Centre in Bhimtal from where they were referred to higher centres. Some of them are in critical condition.
Relief and rescue operations were launched with the help of locals, he said.
It was difficult for the fire department and SDRF teams to pull the bodies and the injured out of the gorge as the dept to which the bus had fallen was 1,500 feet, Pandey said.
They were pulled out of the ditch with the help of ropes, he said.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed grief over the accident and instructed the district administration to carry out the relief and rescue operations expeditiously.
He announced a financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased.
An assistance of Rs 3 lakh will be given to the seriously injured and Rs 15,000-25,000 to those who sustained minor injuries, he said.
Out of Rs 10 lakh to be paid to the families of those who died in the accident Rs 5 lakh will be given by Uttarakhand Transport Corporation, Rs 2 lakh from Road Safety Fund and Rs 3 lakh from Chief Minister's Discretionary Fund.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
