Rajkot: Teen crushes toddler under his car

RAJKOT: An 18-month-old boy died after being run over by a Class XII boy driving a luxurious sedan car in the famous ‘naasta gali’ near Bhaktinagar circle of the city on Monday afternoon.
The driver Yash Bagdai, 18, was arrested from his house on Tuesday morning.
According to police, the victim Vansh Surela and his seven-year-old sister Priyanshi were playing on the road while their parents Jagdish and Sumita were resting on the pavement in the lane. The couple sells vegetables from a cart at the spot.
Meanwhile, Bagdai drove into the lane from the 80-feet Ring Road and stopped by the roadside near the vegetable cart to answer a phone call. Vansh, on the other hand, while searching for something stood in front of the car. CCTV footage of the accident show that the kid squatted as if looking for something under the vehicle.
After hanging up the call, Bagdai did not notice Vansh squatting right in front of his vehicle and accelerated the car. The car’s left-side wheels ran over Vansh’s body, said investigating officer RN Hasaliya of Bhaktinagar police station.
On seeing their son getting crushed under the car, Jagdish and Sumita rushed towards their son and then after the car. Bagdai slowed his car but as the couple ran after him, he sped off from there. They also pelted stones at the car, but Bagdai sped away.
Vansh was rushed to a nearby private hospital and later referred to civil hospital where he succumbed in the night.
In their police statement, the couple only said that it was a long black car and they did not notice the car’s registration number. Cops checked the footage of CCTV cameras installed across the road and found the car’s number and details of the vehicle’s ownership.
On Tuesday morning, police reached Bagdai’s house in the posh Bhaktinagar Society and arrested him.
He was booked under IPC sections 304 (a) (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life) and sections of Motor Vehicles Act.
His father Vimal owns a clothes showroom in Rajkot. “Bagdai had recently got the driving license. We will be writing to the RTO to cancel the license,” said Hasaliya.