Pune court convicts bus driver for killing nine people

A court in Pune has convicted a bus driver for killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 30 others in January last year.

Santosh Maruti Mane, 39, will be sentenced next Monday. He faces the possibility of being sent to the gallows.

The judge who was reviewing the case rejected defence counsel suggestions that Mane was mentally unstable, and said that his intent was clear -- "To kill or cause grievous injuries".

After his superiors refused to shorten his duty hours, Mane hijacked a bus and went on a 25-km rampage during the morning rush hour, driving it on the wrong side of the road for 45 minutes.

Mane's victims included school children who were flung out of his way as he steered wildly through the stretch before traffic police fired at the vehicle and he was overpowered by a college student who managed to board his bus.