Bus blazed in Assam, injured shifted to Cooch Behar

 

COOCH BEHAR, Oct. 27: Fifteen seriously injured persons of the ill fated bus that was going to Uttar Lakhimpur in Assam last night were shifted to MJN Hospital in Cooch Behar this noon.

 

A passenger bus named Road King left for Uttar Lakhimpur from Cooch Behar with 48 passengers at 10-10 p.m. yesterday. At about 12-midnight a gang of about 15 miscreants tried to stop the bus at Nandinigaon under Golokganj police station. They obstructed the bus by placing large sized boulders on the road. When the driver stopped the bus they hurled stones to the bus. The driver and a few others received injury. At that time the miscreants hurled one or two petrol bombs to the bus and left the place leaving the blazed vehicle. Some of the passengers came out breaking open the windows of the burning bus. Later, police came and sent 21 injured persons to a hospital in Dhubri.

 

Today, 15 persons including the driver and the conductor were shifted to MJN Hospital. Conductor Ajit Das narrated the story lying in his bed at the hospital. Another injured passenger Champa Munda, a resident of Beltala in Alipurduar, said, they were going to work at a brick kiln in Guwahati.

 

The Assam Police are suspecting that it was the handiwork of AKRASU who called an Assam bandh from 17 October to 29 October. When contacted, the Dhubri ASP Md Omar Ali said they arrested ten persons in connection with the incident. Drive is on to nab some others. Security measures were beefed up following the incident, the ASP said. []