Rash driving claimed the life of a standard VIII student, Aniket Gajanan Chanche (13), in Mundhwa area of the city on Monday afternoon.
The speeding bus, apparently hired by Bharat Forge on contract to ferry staff to the company, hit the bicycle on which the victim was riding. Aniket, a resident of Milindnagar in Mundhwa, was returning home from his school when the mishap took place.
The only brother to three sisters, the deceased's father is an employee of Kalyani Steel and mother is a housewife. According to witnesses, the bus driver, Ramanand Shivappa Dhangar (36), was driving the vehicle rashly.
The bus, on its way to the company, rammed into the bicycle. The boy was dragged for some distance before the bus stopped.
After the mishap, some of the agitated local residents went on a rampage, damaging the bus and staging a dharna near the company gate for several hours.
It was a young woman, Shobha Gupta Ray, who rushed the injured boy to Sassoon general hospital for treatment. But he died at the hospital.
"I was standing on the road near Bharat Forge company waiting for an autorickshaw. Suddenly the bus coming at a high speed from Mundhwa Road hit Aniket's bicycle from behind and the boy came under the rear wheels of the bus," Shobha said.
She claimed that had the bus driver stopped the vehicle after hitting the cycle, the child could have been saved. "After the mishap I shouted for help as the boy lay in a pool of blood in an unconscious state. But none came forward. I along with the deceased's friend stopped an auto carrying students and rushed him to the hospital," she said.
At Ghorpadi area, the auto was stranded for 20 minutes at the railway crossing. Later at the hospital, the doctors declared him as brought dead. Soon after the accident, the local residents and politicians went on a rampage ransacking the vehicle.
Some of the irate residents sat in front of the gate of Bharat Forge for over four hours preventing the company officials and staff to come out of the company premises. They demanded adequate compensation to the bereaved family and a job to one of the three sisters of the victim.
"The police resorted to mild lathi charge to disperse us," alleged a local activist, Harshad Borate.
Refuting the allegations, the senior inspector of Mundhwa police station, Devidas Patil, said, "After the accident, the angry mob allegedly ransacked the bus. We reached the spot and took control of the situation."
According to the local residents, most of the roads in the Mundhwa locality are in a bad shape and several accidents had taken place in the area, including near Bharat Forge company gate, in the past.The bus, hired by Bharat Forge on contract to ferry staff to the company, hit the bicycle on which Aniket was riding, in Mundhwa area on Monday.
