A seven-year-old boy tragically died after falling from a moving school bus in Magadi, near Bengaluru. The incident occurred on Friday evening and has led to the arrest of the bus driver.

The victim, L Rajat, was a Class 2 student at SBS School in Magadi Town and resided in Hosapalya in Janata Colony. He was the son of Lokesh and Radha, who are daily wage workers from Hanur in Kollegal. Rajat was on his way home with his 10-year-old sister, Dushita, when the accident took place. The siblings were among the first to be picked up by the school bus and were usually the last to get off.

According to police reports, the school bus, driven by 35-year-old R Vinod, typically carries around 30 children and has a woman attendant to supervise them during the journey. However, on the Friday evening in question, the woman attendant had alighted the bus one stop before Rajat and Dushita's. Vinod then resumed driving with Rajat and his sister seated near the door. The door was not properly locked and it opened while the bus was in motion.

Police stated that instead of stopping the vehicle to secure the door, Vinod asked Rajat to close it. As the young boy moved towards the door, he lost his balance and fell out of the bus. Tragically, the rear tyre of the bus ran over him. Vinod immediately rushed Rajat to a nearby private hospital, but the child had already succumbed to his injuries.

The police have arrested Vinod and booked him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. An investigating officer highlighted two critical failures on the driver's part: he did not ensure the door was properly locked before resuming the journey, and he asked Rajat to close the door while the bus was moving. The officer also noted that Vinod's responsibility was to ensure the door was properly locked, which he failed to do.

Normally, individuals accused of causing accidental deaths might be arrested for causing death due to negligence and could be released on station bail. However, being booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder means that the police must produce the accused before the concerned court, which typically hands them over to judicial custody. Vinod has been shifted to the judicial custody of Ramanagara district prison.