‘Disturbed’ youth drives empty bus for 1.5km on crowded streets in Pune, held

PUNE: A visibly ‘disturbed' youth from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand on Saturday evening slipped into a spare PMPML bus, started the vehicle with the ignition key left inside it and drove through crowded streets for around 1.5km from Dengle Bridge to Good Luck Chowk, reviving the scarred memory of nine people being killed on Jan 25, 2012 in a similar incident in the city.

A source said the 20-year-old youth drove the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) bus in the wrong direction from J M Road to Good Luck Chowk. A police team on bandobast duty near Good Luck Chowk stopped the vehicle and intercepted him.

"The youth has been detained. We have initiated the process to register a case of theft, and rash and negligent driving against him," said senior inspector Girisha Nimbalkar of Deccan Gymkhana police.

"He shared his mother's phone number with us late at night. She told us that her son had gone to Mumbai in search of a driver's job. She doesn't know how her son came to Pune," Nimbalkar said.

"We do not know the detained youth's medical history, but prima facie he looked disturbed. He was unable to answer any of our questions," the senior police inspector said.

Shivajinagar police will take up the case for further investigation from Deccan Gymkhana police.

Nimbalkar said, "The youth entered the stationary PMPML bus on Dengle bridge, near Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) headquarters. He just switched on the ignition and the bus started. He drove the vehicle to Rani Jhansi Chowk and then reached Natraj Chowk on J M Road. Instead of proceeding towards Garware Bridge, he drove the bus towards Good Luck Chowk."

An organisation was staging a protest at the Good Luck Chowk then. "The protesters and policemen on bandobast duty spotted the bus moving on the wrong side. They stopped the vehicle and pulled the youth out from the driver's seat," she said.

In almost an identical incident, Santosh Mane, a licensed driver with Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), wreaked havoc on the city roads for around 45 minutes on Jan 25, 2012. Nine innocent people lost their lives.

According to the PMPML officials, the CNG bus belonging to a private contractor had completed its trip from Wagholi to PMC headquarters around 5pm. Kishor Chauhan, the public relations officer of the PMPML, said the driver parked the bus on Dengle Bridge because he was assigned duty in a different bus.

"He did not take the keys of the bus because the new driver assigned was to take control of the vehicle shortly. In the meantime, a youth got into the bus and drove it away. When the new driver came to the spot, the bus was not there. The team at the Dengle Bridge searched for the vehicle, but in vain," Chauhan told TOI.

The PMPML later got the information that the bus was under the custody of Deccan Gymkhana police.


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