Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
A
three-year-old girl was run over by a water tanker on Thursday afternoon,when she was playing outside her house at Serenity Layout,off Sarjapur Main Road in east Bengaluru.
The deceased has been identified as Prathiksha Bhat, daughter of Khem Raj Bhat, a resident of Serenity Layout.
Senior officer visited the spot and after inspecting the spot said the incident occurred at Shwetha Residency Apartment located about 100 metres away from the girl’s house,at 12.10 pm on Thursday.
The girl,who was playing outside her house,had strolled near Shwetha Residency Apartment, where a water tanker had come to fill up the sump.
The driver of the tanker was reversing the vehicle and knocked down the girl.
The right rear wheel of the vehicle ran over the girl’s head,crushing her to death.
The accused driver sped away after the incident and efforts are on to arrest him,senior officer said.
Prathiksha Bhat’s father worked as a security guard earlier and presently jobless while her mother works as domestic help, the police added.
The HSR Layout traffic police has registered a complaint and are further investigating the matter.
Meanwhile The HSR Layout Traffic police on Friday arrested M.D.Raqib,the driver,the owner of the tanker R.Anand,47,and another man Ramesh Babu,36,who surrendered before the police falsely claiming he caused the accident.
Following the accident, the HSR Layout Traffic Police had served a notice to R.Anand, asking him to bring the driver to the police.
Anand produced Ramesh Babu as the driver,who was then detained by the police and questioned. However,investigations revealed that Ramesh was not the driver,but had agreed to surrender by falsely claiming so on the assurance of being paid handsomely by Anand.
The police arrested both Anand and Ramesh for providing false information and for being an imposter.They eventually arrested Raqib,whom Anand was trying to protect too.
Meanwhile,Bengaluru City Traffic Police launched a special drive against water tanker drivers across the city on Friday and booked 258 cases.
While 123 of them,were booked for drivers not wearing the prescribed khaki uniform,four drivers were booked for drunk driving and the rest for various traffic rule violations Said DR BR Ravikanthe Gowda,Joint commissioner of Traffic, in a release.
