MUMBAI: The Regional Transport Office as well as the technical team which conducted a preliminary inspection of the BEST bus that rammed into and killed four people and injured 10 outside Bhandup railway station on Monday night, have prime facie ruled out any technical issue with the vehicle, while hinting at human error. The bus driver, during preliminary inquiry, reportedly admitted to a judgement error. Police have also summoned the driver who drove the bus before handing over the shift to Sawant.The arrested driver, Santosh Sawant (52), has been booked under BNS sections 105, 110 and 125 (A) (B) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide, rash driving, and negligence and endangering life, as well as under the Motor Vehicle Act. He was produced before the Vikhroli Metropolitan Magistrate court which remanded him to police custody till Jan 3.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for families of the victims. He offered his condolences to the families of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery. BEST has also announced a Rs 2 lakh compensation to family members of the deceased, and medical help to the injured, a spokesperson said.What has perplexed the BEST management is that Sawant is an “experienced driver working for nearly 15 years on full-time service with the undertaking”, though he has been operating e-buses since only three months. A senior official told TOI in all other major fatal crashes, the driver was on contract with wet lease operators. “Sawant is our own driver, with a less stressful job and has good experience driving bigger buses, and we are surprised how he was responsible for negligence while driving a Midibus.“His action brought back memories of a similar fatal mishap by a bus driver in Kurla in Dec last year, which claimed nine lives; trial in the case is yet to commence. The public prosecutor, while seeking Sawant’s custody, argued they have collected his fingerprints to match with the steering wheel of the bus. “It is not the case that he is a new driver. He has been driving the BEST bus since 2008 and he had knowledge his negligence would lead to disaster and yet he drove carelessly. We want to interrogate him and find the motive behind his act.” Sawant’s lawyer S V Rane said, “Firstly his alcohol test has come negative, secondly police have wrongly invoked Section 105 as there is no motive, he had no knowledge and the incident is purely an accident,” said Rane. In his statement, Sawant said while taking a U-turn, he released the pulled hand brake and then accelerated, leading the bus to jump on the footpath.While he has been suspended, BEST general manager Sonia Sethi has instituted a high-level probe. BEST has announced sensitisation of all drivers, counselling for psychological and work-related stress issues from Wednesday.Meanwhile, a lawyer approached the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission, urging it to take suo motu cognisance of the mishap and ensure inquiry. (With agencies)
