Hyderabad: Following the death of a 21-month-old baby girl who was run over by a school bus on Monday, the school owner was absconding, said the police. “We are probing the whereabouts of the person and will be placing him under custody soon,” police officials said.
The bus driver, Jangaiah, 35, was remanded to judicial custody for running the bus of Sumedha Montessori School, over the toddler’s head, killing her on the spot. The police said the absence of an attendant in the bus has got the management involved.
As per norms, all school vehicles should have an attendant on board. It was only a week before the accident that four-year-old Satvik Reddy, the brother Momula Adhya, the victim, was admitted to the Sumedha Montessori School in Shabad town.
“On Monday, when Lavanya, the mother, came out to help Satvik board the school bus, she was unaware that Adhya was crawling behind her on to the main road and eventually in front of the bus. Without being noticed by anyone, the child snuck up near the bus and stood near the front, left wheel. The driver failed to spot the child and she was mowed to death when he started the bus. The incident was witnessed by everyone on the spot, including the 20 children on the bus,” said the police officer from Shabad Police station, Ravi Kumar.
Shabad police has registered a case of causing death due to negligence against the school management and the driver.
The police officer said that though the school had all necessary permissions to operate the school bus, there was no attendant to take care of the kids. “We are on a hunt to find the school owner,” the officer said.
