A victim of an accident on potholed stretch of a national highway has got top officials of a road-building firm booked on the charge of endangering his life by failing to stick to the contract and repair the road.

Rajasthan police on Sunday said top officials of GVK Construction company had been booked on the charge of endangering human lives. An FIR has been filed against the chairman, directors and the manager of the company, the police said.

The potholed stretch falls on the Kota-Deoli national highway in Bundi district in Rajasthan, which the company had been contracted to build and maintain.

The FIR was registered on a complaint by Bundi resident Dinesh Kumar, who met with an accident while heading to Kota with his wife and child on a motorcycle on September 5, SHO Ramesh Tiwari of Talera police station said.

The complainant said he and his family members were badly hurt in the accident caused by ditches that had been filled with water, making it impossible to spot them.

Dinesh said he and his family members barely escaped from being mowed down by a speeding truck tailing his motorcycle.

Quoting the complainant, the SHO said GVK, contracted to build and operate the road, had neither bothered to fill the ditches nor erect any barricade around them, warning of their presence.

He said that although the firm failed to repair the road, it continued to collect hefty toll from the road users.

The FIR was registered under Sections 336 and 337 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with offences that endanger human life and safety and cause hurt.

Section 283, posing “danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation”, too, has been added to the FIR, he said.

The sections entail a maximum jail term of six months and a fine of Rs 500.