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Wild bus ride brings back Mane shudders

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An empty bus belonging to Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) was allegedly hijacked by a 24-year-old youth early on Friday morning.

The youth, identified as Dashrath Mohan Paul (24), resident of Kharabwadi in Chakan, drove dangerously on the city roads for over three hours with only his mother Rukmini Bai (56) seated in the bus.

The incident revived memories of last year’s killer bus rampage when a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) driver Santosh Mane went berserk mowing down several people in his joyride of death on January 25, 2012, killing nine people and injuring nearly 30.

Fortunately the city roads were deserted on Friday morning when Paul took charge of the bus at about 4:30 am and drove towards Kunjarwadi in Hadapsar.

It was on his way back to Kothrud when a PMPML bus driver Tushar Uravane who was driving another PMPML bus noticed that somebody was driving a bus recklessly on Uruli Kanchan-Swargate route. After a chase of 10 minutes, Uravane managed to intercept the bus at Borkarvasti in Loni Kalbhor area around 7.30 am.

Paul was caught and handed over to the Loni Police by Uravane and the local residents.

Interrogated by the police, Paul’s mother said that his son worked in a private company. Paul had brought his mother to their relatives place at Kothrud as she was not well.

On Friday morning, Paul told her that he was taking her to a doctor and the duo came to Kothrud PMPML depot. There they spotted an empty PMPML bus (MH 12 HB 1385). Paul asked his mother to get in and himself sat on the driver’s seat despite his little knowledge about driving. Paul switched on the ignition button and drove towards Kunjirwadi.

Rukminibai told the police that she had advised her son not to steal the bus and asked him to park it at its appointed place, but her requests had fallen on deaf ears.

Loni Kalbhor senior police inspector Suhas Garud said that Paul’s driving style immediately caught attention of Uravane. He looked at the bus number and found that it was traveling on an unscheduled route and started following the bus.

Although he was not drunk at the time of driving the bus, police have recovered a liquor bottle from his trouser pocket.
On information, senior PMPML officials from the headquarters, including accident department head LD Dhawale, vigilance squad members Damu Borade and Ashok Sanap, reached the police station. They told the police that the PMPML had hired the bus on contract basis.

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