VENTING ANGER: A resident arguing with an official in-charge of bypass road toll collection after three children were killed and one was injured in an accident, near Hubli on Saturday.

HUBLI: Residents of Nekar Nagar in Hubli vented their anger over a police jeep after a speeding truck ran over four children on the bypass road near Hubli, killing three of them and seriously injuring the fourth on Saturday.

The residents staged "rasta roko" for about two hours demanding that the police take safety measures for people crossing the bypass road.

An angry crowd manhandled an officer in-charge of toll collection on the bypass road and police had to take him to a safe place. Some even argued with the officer and when the police made him sit in the jeep, some persons threw stones at the jeep.

Jeep damaged

The windshield of the jeep was damaged in the stone-throwing. As the situation seemed to go out of control, senior police officers, including Police Commissioner Narayana Nadamani, rushed to the spot to pacify the protesters.

The police succeeded in convincing the people to withdraw their protest assuring them of taking appropriate action.

The lone girl who survived in the accident is undergoing treatment at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Hubli.

Her condition is said to be serious. The police gave her name as Shilpa Siddappa Sampagavi (5). They gave the names of the victims as Shivalila Gurusiddappa Sampagavi (13), Laxmi Shankarappa Mukkalakatti (14) and Mahadeva Shankrappa Mukkalakatti (2).

According to eyewitnesses, the accident happened around 9.30 a.m. when the children were crossing the road.

The driver of the truck Niyaz Mulla (24), a resident of Gadhinglaz in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, has been arrested. The truck was on its way to Bangalore from Kolhapur.

The Hubli South (Traffic) Police have registered a case.

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