The Uttarakhand Police registered a case on Wednesday against the representatives of the companies which manufactured and customised the electric vehicle that met with an accident that killed four people in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
A senior forest official, who was in the vehicle, fell into a canal during the accident on Monday and remains missing.
The FIR in the matter has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 304A (causing death by negligence), 279 (negligent driving endangering human life) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by rash, negligent action), against the representatives of Aska and Pravaig Dynamics companies and the vehicle's driver Ashwani Biju, SHO Lakshman Jhula police station Ravi Kumar Saini said.
Officials said searches are being conducted to locate the reserve's wildlife warden, Aloki Devi.
Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup Pravaig Dynamics, whose trial electric vehicle (EV) was involved in the accident that the driver claimed was due to speeding and overloading, has sought registration of a fresh case, claiming the one registered by the Uttarakhand Police has ignored critical facts.
In a statement, the company claimed that the FIR overlooks critical facts, including trial being authorised by the forest department, and that forest department officials overloaded the trial EV and took it off the approved boundary for trial runs.
Uttarakhand Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal on Tuesday had ordered an inquiry into the accident.
The electric vehicle first hit a tree and then crashed into the walls of the canal during its trial run killing the four people, including two forest rangers, and injuring five others. Devi is missing.
The occupants of the vehicle were thrown up into the air after the accident
The injured are under treatment at the AIIMS here.
