Kathmandu, Aug 6 (Inditop.com) As Nepal condemned the grisly accident in the heart of the capital Wednesday in which six pedestrians, including five Indians, were struck down by a speeding car, its driver, a 21-year-old student, surrendered before police.
Biplab Mansingh Dangol, who hit seven people in front of Nepal’s oldest hospital around 12.45 a.m. Wednesday during the aftermath of his birthday bash, turned himself in at the Hanumandhopa police station just before midnight, after the violent public protests over the carnage caused by him had subsided.
The 21-year-old was driving a Honda City car registered in the name of his mother, Shanti Mansingh Dangol. According to police, he claimed in the preliminary statement that he had swerved to avoid hitting a motorcycle, resulting in a collision with the iron fencing of the pavement in front of Bir Hospital.
Dangol also claimed he did not see the group of seven people his car ploughed into, killing six and causing the seventh to be admitted to hospital with critical head injuries.
According to the statement, Dangol had enrolled in a private educational institute in India’s Silicon City Bangalore to acquire a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. After completing his high school education in Nepal, he had been studying in the Indian institution for three months and had come home on holiday.
After celebrating his 21st birthday at home Wednesday, he was dropping his friends home when the accident occurred, he told police.
Inspector Prem Sagar K.C., the investigating officer, said there were three more youths in the car Wednesday night.
“We have asked all three to turn themselves in and expect them at the police station today (Thursday),” the police officer told Inditop.
Nepal’s Home Minister Bhim Rawal, who met the families of the five Indians killed in the mishap, has assured them that action will be taken against the guilty and government will provide compensation as well as pay for the medical treatment of the injured.
All the dead Indians, including two women, are from Bihar.
The tragedy occurred around 12.45 a.m. as 15-year-old Sanjeev Gupta was discharged by the hospital.
The teenager, whose parents had come from Sitamarhi more then 20 years ago, rushed him to hospital fearing he had contracted diarrhoea, which has already killed nearly 250 people in Nepal.
Some of their neighbours came along to help.
Sanjeev died on the spot as well as his mother, Krishna Devi Gupta, 40, and uncle, Madan Gupta, 29.
Also killed in the accident were their neighbours, Dharmanath Sinha, 50, of Motihari, and his wife, Veena, 46.
The sixth victim was identified as Sudan Shrestha from Sindupalchowk district in northern Nepal.
Dipak Gupta, 28, also from Sitamarhi, was taken to the National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences in Kathmandu with serious head injuries.
Kathmandu police will pay NRS 5,000 ex gratia compensation for each person killed, police said.
Dangol’s family has also offered to pay compensation.
There is growing public outrage about the accident.
After violent protests Wednesday that disrupted traffic throughout the day with mobs calling for the perpetrator to be hanged, letters have started pouring in at the offices of Nepal’s newspapers.
People are questioning why and how the driver and his friends did not surrender earlier.
A man suggested on the website of the Republica daily that Dangol surrendered after his affluent family had the chance to talk to lawyers and cook up a defence.
Meanwhile, the victims’ families faced a bleak future with the breadwinners gone.
“I have lost everything,” said Sanjeev’s father, 45-year-old Bhola Gupta.
“I am a disabled man and can’t do anything on my own. My wife was running a pavement business and supporting our family. Now with both my wife and son gone, what will happen to me?”
Geeta Gupta, 26, wife of Madan Gupta, slumped in the police station, weeping softly.
“I have three young children,” she whimpered. “The youngest is just three months old. What is going to happen to us?”
Nepal has one of the highest street accident rates with police reporting three deaths on an average day.
Rash and drunken driving, bad roads and dilapidated vehicles contribute to the mishaps.
