7 dead in BEST bus accident, driver held

Mumbai: The driver of a BEST bus that mowed down seven persons in Kurla area here had no experience of driving electric vehicles (EVs), police said on Tuesday, as he was arrested for `culpable homicide not amounting to murder.’

He had undergone only a ten-day training for driving electric buses, the driver allegedly told police. The accident on SG Barve Marg on Monday night left seven persons dead and 42 injured while 22 vehicles were also damaged. The civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertak-ing said it has set up a committee to probe the tragedy, even as local BJP leaders demanded that it review the wet-lease model under which buses are hired from private contractors.

Sanjay More (54) , the driver, was first detained and later arrested under sec-tions 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provi-sions of the Motor Vehicles Act, a police official said. He was produced before a magistrate’s court which remanded him in police custody till December 21. The bus hit several vehicles and pedestrians around 9.30 pm in the crowded Kurla (West) locality after the driver lost control.