KKRTC bus driver brutally attacked by gang in Srisailam, windows pelted with stones

BAGALKOT: A driver belonging to the Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, who had parked the bus overnight at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, was attacked by a gang of 10-12 persons in the week hours on Saturday. The windows of the bus were also pelted with stones.

The driver Basavaraj Biradar of the Vijayapura depot, had run a schedule to Srisailam. Around 3 am, a group of 10-12 people arrived in an autorickshaw where the bus was parked and brutally attacked Biradar who was resting on a platform. They abused him in foul language and asked him what a Kannadiga was doing there. They also threw stones at the bus and broke some windows and the rear windshield.

When Biradar ran to inform the traffic controller of the attack, the gang assaulted the latter too. By the time the other bus drivers and conductors woke up, the gang had fled. Biradar, who had sustained injuries in the face and leg, was treated at a government hospital at Sunnipet nearby.

Bus driver Basavaraj Biradar, who was attacked.

Speaking to Public TV, Biradar said, “We left Vijayapura at 5.30 am and reached Srisailam around 8 pm. After bath and dinner, we retired for the night. The conductor was sleeping in the bus while I was sleeping outside. Around 1 am, 10-12 people attacked me. Hearing my screams, the other bus drivers and conductors and the traffic controller came out, but the attackers ran away. The conductor another bus called for an ambulance and I was taken to a hospital in Sunnipet where I was admitted. In the morning, I lodged a complaint and the police have arrested 3-4 people.”

In recent months, this is the second such attack on Kannadigas. On March 31, a youth named Srishail Varimath from Bagalkot was brutally attacked at a hotel in Srisailam after a dispute over drinking water.