Unstable Pune bus driver mows down 8

The driver,39-year-old Santosh Maruti Mane,has been arrested and charged with murder. His wife Sonali said he was stressed and overworked from being forced to drive long routes.

A Solapur psychiatrist whom Mane visited two years ago said that Mane had been suffering from mental illness. Dr Dilip Burate told The Indian Express that he had told Mane that he was unfit to drive public vehicles,and must quit his job with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC.

MSRTC managing director Deepak Kapoor said Mane had been involved in five accidents in 11 years of service. For two of these accidents,he had been punished with a stoppage of increments. Kapoor insisted,however,that all the incidents were minor because in all these mishaps,there were no fatalities.

Corporation officials said Mane had never complained of stress. However,hours after Manes crazy ride ended in tragedy,MSRTC announced a committee to study the medical histories of all its 37,000 drivers. The incident has come as a grim reminder of the need to update the health of employees, MSRTC spokesman Mukund Dhus said.

Police said Mane had returned to Swargate depot around 7.30 pm on Tuesday,having driven approximately 10 hours from Ganagapur in Karnataka. He was scheduled to drive a Pune-Waduste bus from the depot at 10.15 am Wednesday,but he showed up early and,at 8 am,climbed into a parked,empty Pune-Satara bus whose driver had gone to the toilet.

Mane started the bus with a master key that all 250 drivers at the depot have,and drove out of the bus station. He rushed along Shankar Sheth Road,driving on the wrong side,and hit a vehicle near Hotel Seven Loves. Police havaldar Sharad Polekar,who saw the crash,called police control room at 8.02 am. Soon afterward,two officers on a bike were on the tail of the runaway bus.

Mane kept driving at a very high speed,frequently on the wrong side for about 15 km,via Swargate,Golibar Maidan,Bhavani Peth,Gultekdi,Maharashi Nagar,Satara Road,Mitramandal Chowk,Sarasbaug and Sinhagad Road,knocking down several barricades,pedestrians,two-wheelers and cars. He ignored 10 rounds fired at the bus by police naik Deepak Kakade.

Mane was finally forced to slow down after two cars that he hit on Sinhagad Road near Sarasbaug ahead of Neelayam overbridge stopped in his way. Among those who jumped in and overpowered Mane was Sharif Ibrahim Kutti,a third year BCA student of Poona College,who chased the bus on his bike from Golibar Maidan.

Mane was taken into custody and booked under IPC Sections 379 theft,302 murder,307 attempt to murder,324 and 326 voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means,and sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

We fired at the bus but the driver did not stop. It was a dangerous chase,he was taking sharp turns and driving on the wrong side, Naik Kakade said.

Police Commissioner Meeran Borwankar said,We believe Mane committed the act in full consciousness and hence we are invoking Section 302 murder against him. Investigation is on to know what made him drive the bus which he was not supposed to.

We came to know that every bus driver is given a master key. Mane used the master key for starting the bus. He then went berserk and even dashed the barricades put up by the police at various locations, she said.

Dr Dilip Burate told The Indian Express over the phone from Solapur that Mane had gone to him with complaints of hallucinations,and had been talking many irrelevant things.

As I remember the case and based on the documents that I have found in my records,he had either schizophrenia or mania. He had come to me for a month after that and I had prescribed medication. But he stopped coming to me after that.

Manes wife Sonali said her husband was under severe pressure and stress at work,and would frequently shout at her and their children. He repeatedly requested MSRTC not to put him on long routes. But he was forced to drive these long routes. He faced problems earlier too due to stress at work. He had also taken a months leave for treatment, she said.

A senior officer from Pune Polices Crime Branch who was present when Mane was interrogated,said he was blabbering. When we asked his name,he took the name of a veteran politician. He also said that he does not remember anything of what had just happened, said the officer.

Asked if Mane had consumed alcohol,Abhay Yeole,assistant commissioner of police Swargate division,said,We are yet to get the report. We have no inputs as of now about his mental illness. Officers of the state transport corporation have told us that they were unaware of his illness.

MSRTC announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh for the eight dead and Rs 75,000 for the seriously injured.

With inputs from Manoj More