Mumbai bus crash: Police probing whether driver ‘deliberately’ used bus as ‘weapon’
Mumbai police Tuesday (Dec 10) told a court that it was probing whether the tragic Kurla bus accident was carried out “deliberately” by the driver, using the vehicle as a “weapon”. The crash, which took place on SG Barve Road, left at least seven people dead and more than 40 people injured.
Some videos of the crash have emerged on social media, which show the bus ramming into several vehicles and crushing some pedestrians. At least five autorickshaws, 10 motorcycles, and approximately 10 pedestrians were hit by the fast-moving bus.
Mumbai police suspect that the driver of the bus, 50-year-old Sanjay More, might have staged an attack using the bus. A magistrate court has now granted police More’s custody until December 21. Sanjay More earlier blamed the accident on brake failure but some eyewitnesses presented conflicting accounts. News agency IANS quoted an eyewitness as saying that Sanjay looked elated and was ‘laughing and enjoying his death drive.’
It has also been revealed that More had no experience of driving electric vehicles and had undergone a training of just 10 days. Mumbai police told the court that it was also necessary to investigate whether the driver was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the crash.
Earlier, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) of the area concluded that the accident was caused due to “human error”.
Watch: Six Dead In Mumbai Bus Crash, Detained Driver Blames Brake Failure
“If a driver doesn’t have experience driving an automatic transmission bus, he doesn’t get proper judgment of acceleration and braking initially. Hence, it seems human error may have caused the accident,” Bharat Jadhav, vehicle inspector, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has also opened a probe into the accident and it is ascertaining whether the accident was caused due to carelessness.
(With inputs from agencies)
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