Uttar Pradesh Minister's Convoy Runs Over 5-Year-Old, Yogi Adityanath Orders Probe

Gonda, Uttar Pradesh: A senior Uttar Pradesh minister's convoy allegedly ran over an five-year-old boy last night in Gonda district. The boy died on the spot. He was allegedly hit by a car which was part of the convoy of minister Om Prakash Rajbhar. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the state's most senior police officer for a report and has announced Rs 5 lakhs compensation for the boy's family.

Shiva Goswami, accompanied by his mother and grandmother, was reportedly playing by the side of a road that connects Colonelganj and Paraspur in the eastern Uttar Pradesh district when he was hit by one of the cars of the minister. Eyewitnesses and the family of the boy alleged that no one in the convoy stopped to help the child. His father claims that the minister himself was in one of the cars which had garlands on it.

"The child fell after he was hit by the car. The minister sped away. The guards put a break to their vehicle but they went away," said the child's father Vishwanath.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, however, has claimed he was 25 kms away, in a different car, when the incident happened. "I actually told the police with me that I wanted to go to the spot. But the inspector on duty with me said the people were very angry and so I should not go there, he told reporters in Ballia today. "I asked the police to register an FIR. I called the chief minister and he asked me which car it was. I told him that after I left the function many cars followed - cars come from everywhere. The chief minister told me he would ask the police to find out, " Mr Rajbhar said.
 Villages, who alleged that police did not reach the spot on time, placed the boy's body on the road and blocked the route for nearly an hour on Saturday. They alleged that the police tried to forcibly remove the boy's body from the road. 

Angry locals reportedly set fire at several places in the area.

Om Prakash Rajbhar heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, an ally of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh and a minister in Yogi Adityanath's cabinet.

Following a complaint by the boy's father, a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against unknown people for now. "The police is trying to find out who was driving the car. There is no pressure from anyone. The police will act in a proper manner," Gonda District Magistrate JB Singh said.

Three weeks ago, in a video that went viral on social media, Om Prakash Rajbhar warned that parents who fail to send their children to schools will be locked up in police stations without food and water.

In July, Mr Rajbhar threatened to launch a protest sit-in if a top official in his home district is not removed.