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) undertaking 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 sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, a police official said. Meanwhile, police on Tuesday sought from a court custody of the driver of the civic transport bus that fatally knocked down seven persons and injured 42 others in Mumbai, saying they need to probe if he had committed the act “deliberately” and used the vehicle as a “weapon”. The court accepted the police plea after arguments and remanded Sanjay More, who was at the wheel of the ill-fated bus, to their custody till December 21 as details emerged he had no experience of driving electric vehicles and had undergone only a ten-day training for steering Evs. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the crash and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured persons.

 

In a message on X, Fadnavis announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The medical expenses of the injured will be borne by BMC and BEST undertaking, he said. “We stand with the families of those who lost their lives in this unfortunate incident. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” the CM said. Meanwhile, the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking on Tuesday set up a four-member committee to investigate the bus accident in Kurla area here that claimed seven lives.