Srinagar: Injured during protest, driver dies

Wagay, who had a narrow escape and was still in shock, said that protests were going on in Tengpora at that time.

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The funeral procession in Srinagar. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

A bus driver has died after a stone hit him during a protest at Tengpora in Srinagar. Police said they have filed a case and were awaiting Ali Mohammad Dagga’s final medical report. “As of now, I can say that he was hit with a stone,” said an officer at Srinagar’s Batamaloo police station.

Dagga’s employer, Ghulam Ahmad Wagay, said they were returning from Chanapora on Monday when the stone hit the driver. Wagay, who had a narrow escape and was still in shock, said that protests were going on in Tengpora at that time. “I could smell the tear smoke. It was getting difficult to breath,” he said. “Suddenly, a stone hit me. I told him (Dagga) that a stone has hit me. He said he would park the vehicle,” said Wagay.

He added that Dagga shrieked as he was parking the vehicle. “He said he did not know what had happened to him. He put his hands on his head, from which blood was oozing out. He fell down while the bus was still moving. I tried to get my hands on the steering. It (the bus) skidded off the road and hit a pathway.’’ Wagay said he cried for help. “Some bike-borne youths came for help,”he said. “Dagga was motionless. We took him to hospital but doctors declared him dead.’’ Wagay said that he later found a boulder on the bus that had perhaps hit Dagga.

Dagga was earlier painting windows at home when he left after Wagay called him. “From Saturday, he was painting windows. We did not have money to get this all done by a painter,” said Dagga’s wife, Rafiqa Bano.

“Yesterday (Monday), around 5.30 in the evening, he received a call. He told me that it was from owner of the minibus.’’ Dagga told him wife that Wagay had asked him to come quickly as they had to go to Chanapora.

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