Angry locals set a bus afire after it ran over two motorcyclists in Punjab.
A motorcyclist died and his pillion rider was seriously injured after a speeding bus ran over them on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway on Thursday afternoon. According to eyewitnesses the bus belonged to a transport company in which Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has a stake.
According to the police, the bus driver tried to drive away from the scene but angry passengers and locals stopped him, and then set the bus afire. The entire episode was filmed by some onlookers and then posted on social media where it went viral.
Ludhiana's Congress lawmaker Ravneet Singh Bittu and Aam Aadmi Party's HS Phoolka led protests against Mr Badal, demanding that all buses belonging to Orbit Transport be withdrawn from the roads immediately. Mr Phoolka also assured angry locals that the party would demand a probe into the company and its owners.
The police have arrested the driver of the bus but are yet to confirm whether the bus involved in the accident belonged to the Orbit Company or not. But it is not the first time that transport companies linked to the Badals have been in the news for wrong reasons.
In 2015, a huge controversy erupted after
a Dalit girl was molested and then forced to jump off a moving bus belonging to the company. The girl later succumbed to her injuries and operating license of Orbit Transport was suspended temporarily.
In July last year NDTV reported how a luxury bus allegedly belonging to a company linked to the Badals
ran over a cyclist in Punjab, killing him on the spot. Just a month later, a former minister's wife had a narrow escape when a bus - again linked to the Badals - hit her car.