PATNA: In a horrific incident, a driver was allegedly lynched after the

he was driving mowed down three children sleeping on main road near Kumrahar musahari under Agamkuan police station area in

City at around 1.30am on Wednesday.

The deceased children were identified as Raju Kumar (11), Rohit Kumar (13) and Halendra Kumar (9). Driver’s identity was ascertained as Saurav Ganguly alias Golu (19), who was also a native of Ishua Nawada in Nawada district. The vehicle was travelling to Nawada from Patna when the

took place. Sources said one of the deceased child was close relative of former JD(U) MLA Arun Manjhi.

While a person Manish Kumar (21) of Ishua Nawada travelling in the SUV with the driver was seriously injured, another child who was also sleeping on the roadside, suffered from fractured leg. Locals kept road blocked till morning by burning tyres after the accident. Later Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia was handed over to the kin of deceased children.

City SP (east) Jitendra Kumar said all three children died on spot. “The injured person inside SUV along with the child was rushed to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) for treatment,” he said.

Spine chilling CCTV camera footages of the incident has surfaced in which the SUV can be spotted travelling at a high speed and ramming a wall of banquet hall and an electric pole after mowing down sleeping children. While few of the children were sleeping on footpath, those who got mowed were seen sleeping on road just below the

in the CCTV camera footages of incident recorded from different angles.

Footage also shows couple of people beating mercilessly a person lying on road with bamboos and sticks while he begs for mercy with folded hands. It was yet not clear if it was driver or co-passenger. In another CCTV camera footage, couple of youth were seen repeatedly attacking on head of a person lying lifeless on road. Locals were also seen trampling his head with repeated blows.

“We got to know that the injured driver was dragged out of the mangled remains of SUV after which he was lynched,” police sources said.

When asked, the SP said that he would comment on driver’s lynching only after watching the CCTV camera footages. “I have not seen them yet,” he said.

Kumar said prima facie it seem driver had dozed off while driving which resulted in loss of control on wheels. “Tyre marks on road indicates that SUV suddenly veered off road by 45 degrees. Post mortem report was awaited to know if the driver was in inebriated state,” SP said adding administration had given ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to be disbursed by district administration.