KOLKATA/SERAMPORE: The Polba carpool accident claimed the life of one of the injured kids, seven-year-old Rishav Singh, eight days after the vehicle — carrying 15 schoolchildren and travelling at a speed of 90 kmph — crashed into a ditch beside Delhi Road.
Rishav, a student of class II, died of multi-organ failure at SSKM Hospital on Saturday morning, prompting cops to slap the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on vehicle owner Shamim Akhtar. Another carpool driver in Kolkata was found drunk while ferrying kids to school a couple of days after the Polba crash and one more accident involving a pool car on the same day, triggered a Kolkata Police crackdown.
Rishav was admitted to SSKM Hospital on Friday itself and put on ventilation after sustaining multiple rib fractures and haemorrhage in the lungs. He had also swallowed mud and dirty water.
SSKM Hospital medical superintendent and vice-principal Raghunath Misra said: “His lung damage was beyond salvation and other organs started failing gradually. A team of specialists from eight departments could not save him.”
But the other seriously injured kid, six-year-old Divyansh Bhaghat, who was admitted to SSKM Hospital along with Rishav, was showing signs of improvement, doctors said. Admitted to the trauma care centre, he is now out of ventilation and is being fed orally.
Rishav’s death has sparked a demand for greater monitoring of how carpools operate and their drivers behave on the road. “I never thought Rishav would leave us so soon,” his dad, Serampore Municipality councillor Santosh Singh, said.
“Carpools will ply. But owners and drivers should not let business override safety,” he added.
Serampore MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, too, stressed on the need for tighter surveillance. “There is an immediate need for stringent legislation to regulate and discipline carpool owners and drivers,” he added.
Hooghly superintendent of police Tathagata Ray said that the driver, Pabitra Das, would continue to be under watch in hospital.
Rishav, a student of class II, died of multi-organ failure at SSKM Hospital on Saturday morning, prompting cops to slap the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on vehicle owner Shamim Akhtar. Another carpool driver in Kolkata was found drunk while ferrying kids to school a couple of days after the Polba crash and one more accident involving a pool car on the same day, triggered a Kolkata Police crackdown.
Rishav was admitted to SSKM Hospital on Friday itself and put on ventilation after sustaining multiple rib fractures and haemorrhage in the lungs. He had also swallowed mud and dirty water.
SSKM Hospital medical superintendent and vice-principal Raghunath Misra said: “His lung damage was beyond salvation and other organs started failing gradually. A team of specialists from eight departments could not save him.”
But the other seriously injured kid, six-year-old Divyansh Bhaghat, who was admitted to SSKM Hospital along with Rishav, was showing signs of improvement, doctors said. Admitted to the trauma care centre, he is now out of ventilation and is being fed orally.
Rishav’s death has sparked a demand for greater monitoring of how carpools operate and their drivers behave on the road. “I never thought Rishav would leave us so soon,” his dad, Serampore Municipality councillor Santosh Singh, said.
“Carpools will ply. But owners and drivers should not let business override safety,” he added.
Serampore MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, too, stressed on the need for tighter surveillance. “There is an immediate need for stringent legislation to regulate and discipline carpool owners and drivers,” he added.
Hooghly superintendent of police Tathagata Ray said that the driver, Pabitra Das, would continue to be under watch in hospital.
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