Lucknow: Two people were killed and an elderly woman was seriously injured when a sport utility vehicle (SUV) from the convoy of BJP’s Kaiserganj candidate Karan Bhushan crashed into a motorcycle in the Chataipurva area of Colonelganj early on Wednesday.
Police have arrested the driver, Lovekush Srivastava, and seized the SUV. It is not known whether Karan Bhushan was in the vehicle, or was present in the convoy.
The victims, Rehan (17) and Shahzad (24), died on the spot. Sita Devi, the third victim, was a pedestrian.
While family members of the deceased say the vehicle was part of Karan Bhushan’s convoy, police sources say his convoy was travelling towards Bahraich when the accident happened.
According to police, the accident took place around 9 am on Wednesday when a Fortuner (UP32HW1800) registered in the name of one of the institutes owned by Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan hit the motorcycle.
A senior officer of the Uttar Pradesh Police told ThePrint that there were four vehicles, including the SUV, in Karan Bhushan’s convoy. “The SUV which rammed into the bike was at the tail end of the convoy. It was speeding to catch up with the rest of the vehicles and crashed into the bike,” the officer said.
Karan Bhushan is the son of six-time MP and former chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. While Brij Bhushan faced allegations of sexually harassing women wrestlers last year, a Delhi court in May ordered charges be framed against him.
In an FIR lodged in the Colonelganj police station, the complainant Chanda Begum said her son Rehan and nephew Shahzad were travelling towards Colonelganj to buy medicines on their bike when a Fortuner coming from the opposite side collided with the bike from the front.
“The driver drove towards his right and crashed into the bike belonging to my nephew, making them fall on the ground. This resulted in their deaths while the motorcycle got damaged,” the FIR reads.
ThePrint has a copy of the FIR lodged under Sections 304-a (death due to negligence), 279 (rash driving), 427 (mischief causing damage) of the IPC and 184 (driving dangerously) of the Motor Vehicle Act.
The SUV is registered with the Lucknow transport department in the name of Nandini Educational Institute which is owned by Brij Bhushan, according to the information available on the ‘RTO Vehicle Information’ mobile application.
Farman Khan, the uncle of the two youngsters, told the media that there were four vehicles moving in Karan Bhushan’s convoy which was headed towards Bahraich early Wednesday morning and the vehicle which crashed into the youngsters was part of the convoy.
“When we reached the Chataipurva crossing, we saw a Fortuner parked there at a side. I asked the onlookers who told me that the youngsters were injured and they had been taken to the government hospital. We asked the onlookers whose vehicle was involved when they told us that it was a part of Prateek and Karan Bhushan’s convoy,” he said.
“There were four vehicles out of which three left the spot and one remained parked there. When we reached the district hospital, we were informed that both the youngsters had died. Please help us get justice, we have lost both our children. They were the only children of their family.”
Shahzad worked in Saudi Arabia and had recently returned, another relative of the youngsters said, adding that he was accompanying Rehan to buy medicines.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party spokesperson I.P. Singh alleged that the insurance of the offending vehicle had expired.
Gonda Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal said that the pollution certificate had expired but it was not confirmed whether it was in the case of insurance. “The driver of the car Lovekush Srivastava has been arrested,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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