Tipper owner held month after 7 kids die in Samana mishap

The police have arrested the owner of the sand-laden tipper involved in the accident that had claimed eight lives, including seven schoolchildren, in Samana on May 7.

The tipper had collided head-on with a multi-utility vehicle ferrying the schoolchildren.

Randhir Singh, the owner of the tipper, was arrested from near the Kakrala area on Monday. He was produced in a court, which remanded him in two-day police custody.

The arrest had come two days after Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann assured the victims’ families of prompt action during his visit to Samana.

The delay in the tipper owner’s arrest had triggered public outrage, with the bereaved families and local residents staging a sit-in at Mata Rani Chowk outside the tehsil complex.

It was only after CM Bhagwant Mann personally met the grieving families on June 7, the protest ended.

The CM had promised Randhir Singh’s arrest along with a judicial probe into alleged illegal sand mining in the area.