Driver booked on charges of culpable homicide in Mumbai's BEST bus crash

Police have registered a case on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the driver of a BEST bus involved in an accident here which claimed six lives and left 43 others injured, officials said on Tuesday.

 

The accident took place at around 9.30 pm on Monday on the SG Barve Marg in Kurla (West) where the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking's bus hit several vehicles and pedestrians.

 

The injured persons were undergoing treatment in various medical facilities, including Bhabha Hospital, Sion Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital, an official said, adding the condition of some of them was critical.

 

 

The injured included four police personnel, who were on bandobast duty at the time of the incident. Their condition was stable, he said.

 

Locals caught the bus driver, identified as Sanjay More, immediately after the accident and the police subsequently took him into custody, he said.

 

He was taken to a hospital for a medical test. His blood samples were also collected to examine whether he was under the influence of alcohol, the official said.

 

The police have registered a case against the bus driver under sections 105 (punishment for culpable homicide that does not amount to murder) and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, he said.

 

Police suspect the bus driver lost control over the wheels as the vehicle's brakes failed, but it will be ascertained by experts, the official said.

 

After more than five hours of the accident, BEST said "as per the initial information, the driver lost control of the bus".

 

The bus, after ploughing through pedestrians and vehicles in Kurla (West), entered into a residential society, Buddha Colony, and came to a halt, officials said on Monday.

 

The bus was a 12-metre long electric vehicle manufactured by Hyderabad-based Olectra Greentech and it had been taken by BEST on wet lease, an official earlier said.