MAHENDERGARH: A habitual rash driver with complaints galore against him, including of often reporting drunk to work, Dharmendra is the sort of person you don’t want behind the wheels of any vehicle, least of all a school bus.
Students of GL Public School told TOI on Friday that just the day before Thursday’s accident – in which six teenagers died and 21 were injured – the same school bus had a narrow escape with Dharmendra almost losing control and a student rushing to the front to hit the brakes.Dharmendra managed to steer the bus back on course just in the nick of time.
Sanjay Sharma, former sarpanch of Jharli village who lost his son Yuvraj in the accident, said he had complained against the driver six months ago to Subhash Lodha, who operates the bus and is the son of BJP functionary Rajesh Lodha, who owns the school.
“My daughter had complained to me that the driver used to come drunk to pick the kids up for school. The school appointed Dharmendra after the earlier bus driver could not continue due to his old age,” said Sharma.
His daughter Nancy elaborated, “I have always been sitting in the front (cabin area) of the bus. We have designated places to sit in the bus. But after the driver was changed, I started feeling uncomfortable. He would tell me how his wife left him and how she was my age and similar to me and that he misses his wife. His eyes were often red because he came drunk. He drove rashly to show off.”
She said she had also complained about him to the school management but to no avail.
“My father and I went to the school several times, asking Subhash to remove Dharmendra. When I kept insisting, a teacher intervened, and my seat was changed to the fourth row. But no action was taken against the driver,” added Nancy, who had skipped school on Thursday and hence wasn’t in the bus.
Another student, Mansi, who too was in the bus on Thursday but escaped without injuries, said Dharmendra had got into a fight with another school bus driver recently and threatened to “knock his bus over”.
“He was speeding and collided with another school bus. The driver of that bus came out. As they argued, Dharmendra called him names and said next time, it won’t just be a hit or a scratch, he would turn the (other) bus upside down,” she said.
Mansi lost her cousin Vansh in the accident. Her brother Priyanshu is critically injured and is being treated at Artemis hospital in Gurgaon.
Harsh, a resident of Kheri who was also in the bus when the accident happened, said, “We always feared commuting to school with him driving the bus. Once, he ran over a dog. Another time, he hit a biker and managed to escape. Even on the day of the accident, he accelerated even before I was fully aboard and hit a biker who was coming from the other side. The biker was the one who had snatched his keys and turned off the ignition by intercepting him.”
The biker and other locals, TOI had reported on Friday, had confronted Dharmendra for driving drunk. But they took pity and let him go when he told them he would lose his job and had a family to feed. “I regret that. We should have never returned the keys,” Sunil, a local, had told TOI on Thursday.
The accident happened soon after. Dharmendra was arrested along with the school’s principal and secretary.
Satish Kumar, a cop at Kanina police station, said, “Dharmendra jumped off the bus just as it overturned. He was caught by locals and brought to us. He has confessed to being an addict and driving drunk frequently. We are in touch with other police stations to check if he has any past criminal records. The test showed high alcohol content in his blood.”
Dharmendra, principal Deepti and school secretary Hoshiyar Singh were produced in court on Friday and sent to police remand for five days. They have been booked under
Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (acting rashly thereby endangering human life), 337 (causing hurt by negligence), 279 (rash driving endangering human life), 109 (abetment) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
Students of GL Public School told TOI on Friday that just the day before Thursday’s accident – in which six teenagers died and 21 were injured – the same school bus had a narrow escape with Dharmendra almost losing control and a student rushing to the front to hit the brakes.Dharmendra managed to steer the bus back on course just in the nick of time.
Sanjay Sharma, former sarpanch of Jharli village who lost his son Yuvraj in the accident, said he had complained against the driver six months ago to Subhash Lodha, who operates the bus and is the son of BJP functionary Rajesh Lodha, who owns the school.
“My daughter had complained to me that the driver used to come drunk to pick the kids up for school. The school appointed Dharmendra after the earlier bus driver could not continue due to his old age,” said Sharma.
His daughter Nancy elaborated, “I have always been sitting in the front (cabin area) of the bus. We have designated places to sit in the bus. But after the driver was changed, I started feeling uncomfortable. He would tell me how his wife left him and how she was my age and similar to me and that he misses his wife. His eyes were often red because he came drunk. He drove rashly to show off.”
She said she had also complained about him to the school management but to no avail.
“My father and I went to the school several times, asking Subhash to remove Dharmendra. When I kept insisting, a teacher intervened, and my seat was changed to the fourth row. But no action was taken against the driver,” added Nancy, who had skipped school on Thursday and hence wasn’t in the bus.
Another student, Mansi, who too was in the bus on Thursday but escaped without injuries, said Dharmendra had got into a fight with another school bus driver recently and threatened to “knock his bus over”.
“He was speeding and collided with another school bus. The driver of that bus came out. As they argued, Dharmendra called him names and said next time, it won’t just be a hit or a scratch, he would turn the (other) bus upside down,” she said.
Mansi lost her cousin Vansh in the accident. Her brother Priyanshu is critically injured and is being treated at Artemis hospital in Gurgaon.
Harsh, a resident of Kheri who was also in the bus when the accident happened, said, “We always feared commuting to school with him driving the bus. Once, he ran over a dog. Another time, he hit a biker and managed to escape. Even on the day of the accident, he accelerated even before I was fully aboard and hit a biker who was coming from the other side. The biker was the one who had snatched his keys and turned off the ignition by intercepting him.”
The biker and other locals, TOI had reported on Friday, had confronted Dharmendra for driving drunk. But they took pity and let him go when he told them he would lose his job and had a family to feed. “I regret that. We should have never returned the keys,” Sunil, a local, had told TOI on Thursday.
The accident happened soon after. Dharmendra was arrested along with the school’s principal and secretary.
Satish Kumar, a cop at Kanina police station, said, “Dharmendra jumped off the bus just as it overturned. He was caught by locals and brought to us. He has confessed to being an addict and driving drunk frequently. We are in touch with other police stations to check if he has any past criminal records. The test showed high alcohol content in his blood.”
Dharmendra, principal Deepti and school secretary Hoshiyar Singh were produced in court on Friday and sent to police remand for five days. They have been booked under
Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (acting rashly thereby endangering human life), 337 (causing hurt by negligence), 279 (rash driving endangering human life), 109 (abetment) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.