Jaipur: At least five people were booked on Wednesday after a private sleeper bus carrying 45 labourers from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly hit a high-tension line in Rajasthan’s Jaipur and caught fire on Tuesday, killing two labourers and injuring six, police said.
The five people who were booked include the owner and driver of the bus, the contractor of the labourers, and two owners of the brick kiln they were heading to.
“The FIR was lodged on Wednesday morning at the Manoharpura police station. Primary investigation found major negligence from all their ends, leading to critical safety lapses in the bus that caused the accident. Further investigation is underway,” Manoharpur inspector Bhagwan Sahay said.
According to police officers, the bus carrying the labourers from Bareilly was heading towards a brick kiln in Manoharpura’s Toda when it hit an 11,000 KV high-tension line and caught fire at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
“The bus’s roof was stuffed with multiple luggages, two-wheelers, LPG cylinders, and other belongings of the passengers. The roof was overloaded and therefore hit the high-tension line. Soon, the bus got electrocuted, and the cylinders and engines of the two-wheelers exploded, causing the massive fire. At least three LPG cylinders and two two-wheelers have so far been recovered in burnt condition,” Sahay said.
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A 50-year-old man, Nassem, and his daughter Sahneem (20) were burnt alive. Five others — Sitara (40) sustaining 45% burn injury, Chanda Begum (40) with 25% injury, Najma (40) with 15%, and Altaf (22) and Azhar (10) each with 10% injury — are undergoing treatment at Sawai Man Singh Hospital and one person have been discharged.
The bus owner Arif Mansuri, driver Matloob Hussain, labour contractor Shahrukh, and the two owners of the brick kiln, Doluram and Kanaram, have been booked under Section 105 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“The bus driver overloaded the vehicle’s roof with flammable stuff, violating the guidelines, and the owner was also found running the bus despite its permit having expired on April 21. The contractor and the brick kiln owners were responsible for the safety of those innocent labourers. Prima facie, they forced them to travel in one bus with their luggages despite their refusal several times,” Sahay said.
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Meanwhile, the transport department placed three Regional Transport Office (RTO) inspectors from Bharatpur and Dausa under awaiting posting order (APO), while the RTO heads of both districts were issued notices. “According to the primary investigation, the bus had crossed seven RTO check-posts — five in Uttar Pradesh and two in Rajasthan — before entering the state. Despite their permit being over, nobody had barred them,” a transport department officer, requesting anonymity, said.
The two Bharatpur RTO inspectors were identified as Gautam Mishra and Ram Chandra, and the Dausa RTO inspector was identified as Puspendra Bharadwaj.
“We have also found that the bus was earlier issued at least 40 challans in the last four months due to several traffic rule violations. We have launched a probe and necessary action will be taken accordingly,” the officer added.
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