Gurgaon school van accident: An eight-year-old boy died after being hit by a reversing school van in Bhondsi, with police arresting the driver and the school planning route changes.The driver of a school van, which allegedly mowed down an eight-year-old boy in Gurgaon’s Bhondsi on Monday morning, was arrested late Tuesday evening.“We arrested the driver, Rajesh, Tuesday night. The school was also named in the complaint, but the FIR was lodged against the driver as only his role [came to light in the incident],” Bhondsi Police Station House Officer Inspector Surender Kumar said.The FIR was filed against the driver for rash driving and causing death by negligence based on the father’s complaint, officers said.Speaking with The Indian Express on Wednesday, Principal of M S Public School, Pooja Bishnoi, said the van was among four the school had been using on lease. She said they would be taking corrective steps.The child, Shivansh Tripathi, was a Class 1 student at Laburnum Public School.According to the complaint filed by his father, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, the incident occurred around 8 am when Shivansh was returning from a grocery shop in the Shyam Kunj area.In his complaint, the father alleged that a Maruti Suzuki Eeco car, which belonged to MS Public School, was being driven at a high speed and in a negligent manner. The driver was allegedly reversing the vehicle when it hit Shivansh. He sustained severe injuries to his head and body and bled heavily. He was declared dead at the hospital.Story continues below this adMaruti Kunj Police Post incharge Sub-Inspector Parmod Kumar said police had reviewed CCTV footage of the area. “The driver was reversing towards the end of the road and could not spot the child… the child too didn’t spot the van till it was close to him and it was too late to run away. The driver was heading back after dropping the students to school. He was at Medanta Hospital with the family,” he said.Principal Bishnoi told The Indian Express, “We did not provide transport earlier but started it on the request of parents. The van in question had been rented by us five months ago, it belonged to the driver, Rajesh. We have not received any call from the police or parents [of the deceased] so far, but we will make sure such incidents do not happen again. We have been cooperating. In fact, after the incident, the driver informed the child’s mother and me and we first took them to a nearby private hospital; it referred them to Medanta. We were with the parents till 10 pm…”The school will be holding a meeting Wednesday afternoon with their transport wing and parents in this regard, she added.“Instead of dropping students at their homes, navigating narrow roads and bylanes, we plan to devise a route map to pick up and drop students through common points from where they can walk home. We will discuss that in the meeting. Taking vans into small roads makes it risky, we have learnt.”Story continues below this adPolice said the autopsy was completed and the body handed over to the family on Tuesday.Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana. Education - Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020) - B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019) Professional Experience Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features. Reporting Interests His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon. Recent Coverage (2025) - Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025). - Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025). - Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025). - Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram. - Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025). - Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025). 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