Three persons, including two priests and a driver, were killed and eight others injured after their van crashed a roadside tree at Netrang taluka in Bharuch district on Wednesday.
According to the police, a group of ten priests were travelling from Rajpipla in the Narmada district to Ramanand Ashram in Vejalpore taluka, Navsari district. The driver, Rakesh Sonkar (41), lost control of the steering and struck a tree as the car crossed Kambodiya village on the Netrang road in Bharuch.
All 10 priests and the driver suffered injuries, and they were all taken to Netrang Primary Health Center by some onlookers. The driver was declared dead on arrival and five priests were taken to a Rajpipla civil hospital with serious wounds. Vedanti Guruji Vaishnav and Keshavdas Vaishnav, two priests, passed away.
Mahavirdas Vaishnav filed a police report, Sonkar was charged under several IPC sections, including 279 (rash driving), among others. Netrang police sub-inspector S V Chudasma said, the priest were on their way from Rajpipla in Netrang to Navsari. “All of them are from Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, and were on a tour to Gujarat.”