Youth ‘fires at’ school bus carrying kids in Amritsar’s Jandiala Guru, arrested

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, August 23

Panic gripped the Jandiala Guru area here on Tuesday afternoon when a youth allegedly opened fire at a school bus carrying children on Jania road here.

The driver, conductor and children had a narrow escape. The accused, identified as Karaj Singh of Jania village, was later overpowered by the driver.

Driver Harinder Singh and conductor Shehnazdeep Singh snatched the pistol from Karaj Singh and later tied him to a tree. They informed the police which reached the spot and took the youth and his pistol into custody.

Jugraj Singh, Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident and said the suspect was taken into custody and the weapon was seized. He added that investigations were under progress to ascertain the legality of the weapon and the reason behind the incident.

The bus driver said he was working as a driver with the school bus belonging to Saint Soldier Convent School at Jandiala. He added that there were 45 children in the school bus when the incident occurred. The driver said at 2.25pm they were going on Jania road located on Jandiala Guru – Sheikhfateh village road, when a motorcycle-borne person came from behind and started honking frantically.

He said as there was an auto-rickshaw ahead of the school bus, he could not give him passage to motorcycle-borne youth for some time. Enraged over this, the youth overtook the bus and stopped his motorcycle in the middle of the road. The driver alleged the youth took out the pistol and fired at the conductor’s side. Shehnazdeep, the conductor, had a narrow escape and the accused fired at the driver side besides firing another gunshot which missed the target, the driver alleged.

He added that they somehow overpowered the youth and snatched the pistol from him. They tied him to a tree and called the police. Senior police officials led by SP Jugraj Singh and Jandiala Guru DSP Kuldeep Singh reached the spot and carried out investigations.

It was also alleged that the accused had consumed drugs, but police said any such allegation is subject to medical examination.

DSP Kuldeep Singh, however, denied any firing though he added that the youth scuffled with the driver. He said the credentials of Karaj Singh were being investigated.