7-yr-old crushed to death under bus

A seven-year-old girl was crushed to death under a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus at Sion on Thursday afternoon as she was crossing the road with her mother. The girl was on her way to school when the incident took place. The mother has sustained minor injuries and the driver of the bus has been arrested. This is the second such incident this week following the death of a four-year-old girl under an MSRTC bus at Parel. At around 1.15 pm, Pragati Patwa was walking with her mother to her school in Dharavi. The duo had reached the Macchi Market area near Omkar Tower when they had to cross the road. They, however, ignored the zebra crossing and came in the way of the Mumbai-Alibaug bus that hit the girl. “Pragati came under the rear wheels and sustained severe injuries to her head and neck. She was immediately taken to Sion Hospital where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Her mother was lightly injured on her foot and fingers,” said senior police inspector Baburao Gavit of Sion police station. The police has arrested the driver Anand Mohan Helgaonkar (45) for rash and negligent driving under the IPC. Medical tests have, however, concluded that he was not under the influence of alcohol. The girl was a student of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahavidyalay at Dharavi and lived in Om Shivshahi Housing Society at Sion. On Monday, four-year-old Sanika Sachin Mistry was mowed down by a Mumbai-Kolhapur MSRTC bus at Parel.