Driver was drunk, says family

“Chandana was run over by her own school bus and the driver did not know where our house was located. Even more shocking was that the driver did not know that the child belonged to his school and asked, ‘whose child was it’,” family members claimed. Apparently, Srinivas was a temporary driver as the regular driver was on leave on June 25.

Chandana’s grandfather Krishnappa was angry with the school administration’s response. The family members accused the principal of SSB International School in sixth main in Indiranagar, R Srinivas, of not owning the blame for the accident. The school administration also erred by not employing an attender along with the driver, Chandana’s family claimed.

Krishnappa is heartbroken after the principal reportedly asked him how could the school know if Srinivas (the driver) was drunk when the accident occurred. “For Chandana it was her 13th day in SSB International School. She was studying in Vagdevi Vilas School in Mar -athalli. We shifted her to SSB International School as all her uncles and aunts had studied in that school which is also close to our residence,’” he said. Chandana was studying in Class IV.

“We don’t want compensation, but want legal action against the driver to ensure prevention of such incidents in future. We paid Rs 8,000 towards transport charges for Chandana. We now seem to have paid the money to kill her,” rued Nagesh, Chandana’s uncle.

“Chandana was an excellent Bharathanatyam dancer. She would also play music. Her drawing skills were exceptionally good and she was well-versed in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English. She dreamed of becoming a teacher,” recalled  Venkatalakshmi, her aunt .

Youth run over
A youth was run over by a water tanker on Rustumbag Road adjoining Manipal Hospital on Monday morning.
The Airport police said the victim, Ramakrishna (24), a resident of KR Puram, was a casual worker at the Manipal hospital and was on his way home after night shift. Both the victim and the water tanker had started off from the hospital’s rear entrance. Ramakrishna on his bicycle was slightly ahead and the tanker while trying to cruise on the narrow street rammed into the bicycle killing him.