4 charred to death in minibus fire: Cops rope in fire forensics, arson investigators for probe

A senior officer who is part of the investigation said, “As part of the probe, till now we have recorded statements of the survivors, other employees and owner of the company. Humbardikar has sustained 30 per cent burn injuries. He also suffers from high blood sugar and blood pressure. He is still under treatment. He will be placed under arrest only after he is certified to be medically fit by the doctors. While his brief statement has been recorded in the hospital where he had confessed to the crime, a detailed interrogation of the driver will be done after he is placed under arrest. While use of benzene has been confirmed, we want to investigate whether the theft of benzene was abeted by anyone’s negligence or connivance.”

The police probe had also revealed that the rear door of the tempo traveller could not be opened at the time the fire was spreading inside the bus and as a result, the four deceased were trapped, leading to their deaths. Police said that they are investigating if the door had been tampered with.

Police had initially said that the fire could have started because of a short circuit. After analyzing the timeline and following up on other leads, police had become highly skeptical about how the fire could have escalated to such an intense level so rapidly. Probe had Humbardikar purchased a matchbox from near his house. During his brief initial statement Humbardikar told police he was disgruntled over the payment of salary and Diwali bonus and that he was made to do other work apart from driving. He said that he had takren benzene and some old rags from the company a day before teach all of the company’s employees a lesson.

The incident took place around 7.45 am on March 19, when the tempo traveller mini bus that had picked up employees of Vyoma Graphics from Kothrud and Warje areas, was on its way to the print press of the company in Phase 2 of Hinjewadi IT Park for their general shift which was set to start around 8 am. After the bus had crossed the IT Park’s Wipro Circle of Phase 1, a fire suddenly flared up from under the driver’s seat.

The driver Janardan Humbardikar’s (56) pants suddenly caught fire, according to survivors. The driver and some of the passengers managed to jump out one after the other. After the driver jumped out, the minibus moved in a haphazard manner for some distance on the downward gradient before ramming into a roadside curb and coming to halt. While this happening, the fire rapidly spread inside the bus. Four staffers who could not jump out because of the fire and intense smoke, were charred to death and 10 others including Humbardikar had sustained minor injuries.