The main driver of the bus involved in the Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus fire tragedy, Miryala Lakshmaiah, was arrested by police on Saturday, October 25, after having initially fled the scene of the accident.
Local reports suggest that Lakshmaiah allegedly obtained his heavy vehicle license using a fake certificate. Investigators discovered that he had used fabricated documents claiming to be a tenth-grade failure, despite RTA rules requiring at least an eighth-grade education for the license.
Lakshmaiah reportedly studied only up to fifth grade and procured his license by submitting fake documents stating that he had failed tenth grade.
In 2004, he had crashed into a nearby tree while working as a lorry driver, in which the cleaner died, but Lakshmaiah survived.
The accident, which took place on Friday in Kurnool district on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway, claimed the lives of 20 passengers, including the man whose two-wheeler hit the bus. The ill-fated bus was carrying 44 passengers at the time of the accident.
Based on a complaint filed by one of the survivors, N Ramesh, the Ulindakonda Police in Kurnool district registered a case against the two bus drivers.
Ramesh, in his complaint, said that about 40 passengers were travelling in the V Kaveri Travels bus with registration number DD 01 N 9490. The Multi Axle Sleeper AC Volvo bus had a seating capacity of 42. It started from Hyderabad and was proceeding towards Bengaluru. The complainant boarded the bus near LB Stadium on October 23.
“In the early hours after crossing Kurnool, there was a loud sound and flames erupted in the front portion of the bus,” said Ramesh in his complaint.
Speaking to PTI, Kurnool SP Vikrant Patel said, “A case has been registered at the Ulindakonda police station under section 125(a) (endangering human life), 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the BNS Act”.
With inputs from PTI
