NEW DELHI, December 3: One person died and 17 were injured when an over-speeding chartered bus overturned near the Dhaula Kuan roundabout this morning. The dead person has been identified as Ramesh Dass, a resident of Rewari in Haryana.Fourteen of the injured have been discharged from the Safdarjung and Army hospitals.The accident comes 40 days before the Delhi Government is supposed to report to the Supreme Court about its efforts towards implementing the order regarding safety of bus passengers in the city.DCP (south-west) P.K. Bharadwaj said that the driver, identified as Shashi, has been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC as he was over-speeding. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the bus (DEP-4865) did not have a speed-governor, which is a violation of the apex court's guidelines.The bus was going from Rohini to Nehru Place. The accident apparently took place around 9.30 a.m. when the bus was passing through the Delhi Cantonment area. Just before the Dhaula Kuan roundabout, the driver took a sharp left turn.``Suddenly, a scooter came right in front of the bus. The driver tried to avoid it and applied the brakes ,'' said Ajay, a passenger. ``He avoided the scooter, but failed to control the bus and it overturned''.Ramesh Dass was sitting on the left side of the bus. As the vehicle toppled over, he was crushed under the weight of other passengers and the bus.The police have doubts about the validity of the chartered bus's permit. They have sought the assistance of the State Transport Authority (STA) to find out more about the bus, including its age and the identity of the owner.
