Raipur, Sep 25 (IANS) The Chhattisgarh police Monday said a girl killed Saturday in a road accident was indeed crushed by a speeding car that was part of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi's convoy.

Saraswati, 5, was tossed up by one of the piloting vehicles of Joshi's convoy at around 8 p.m. on the busy Station Road, eyewitnesses and relatives of the victim had said.

They said none of the convoy staff took note of the accident. Leaving the girl writhing in a pool of blood, the convoy sped away to the Celebration Hotel where the former BJP president, on a daylong visit of this Chhattisgarh capital, was scheduled to attend a function.

It was only after more than an hour that the girl could be taken to government hospital, where she died.

Police said it had arrested a driver that is drawn from the Home Guards and seized the vehicle.

"We arrested the driver of a government vehicle, a Maruti Gypsy, and also seized the vehicle late Sunday," Chhattisgarh's Director General of Police Om Prakash Rathor told IANS.

"The incident was unintentional but it claimed the life of the five-year old girl Saturday evening," Rathor said.

He said police had registered a case against the driver, Prem Chandra, 31.

A state government spokesman said Chief Minister Raman Singh had condoled the incident and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs.50,000 for the family of the victim.

Joshi's office in New Delhi, however, continued to deny that his convoy was involved in the accident during his Raipur trip Saturday.