A hawker who sells boiled eggs on the roadside recalls that two older girls -- around seven years of age -- were holding Anu's hands while they were crossing the road. ``When the bus suddenly came from the blind turn on the road from Mayur Vihar, Phase III, they let go of her hands and ran across while Anu trailed behind alone,'' he said.

Rani -- who had come to pick up her two children and was bringing up the rear -- pulled out the child from under the wheels of the bus belonging to Ryan International School. Rani rushed her to a private hospital accompanied by the driver but Anu was dead. The bus driver, Amarjeet Singh, has been arrested. Hours after the incident, Anu's mother Pratibha lay crying and shaking her head in disbelief. When asked about Vaishali (Anu's formal name), Pratibha says no one knows her by that name. ``I used to bring her home every day. I got delayed because my one-year-old daughter Shikha was crying,'' she says. The police had not registered a case till 9 pm. ``We had to go and get it done,'' says Pratibha's landlord D.P. Sharma.