Maha man steals bus, rams it into tree, held
Sabir Ali Mansuri, 31, decided to travel to his village in Uttar Pradesh from Palghar in Maharashtra on Tuesday morning, he thought of taking the easier way out – he stole a stateowned MSRTC bus from a depot.
However, within minutes, he lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into a tree. The vehicle got stuck in a ditch on the busy Boisar-Tarapur road.
As per Boisar MIDC police, the man appears to be mentally unstable and has been arrested, while the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation will be suspending the driver for bus leaving the cabin door unlocked.
Mansuri arrived at the Boisar ST depot at around 11.30am and saw the driver leave the cabin door unlocked. “A few passengers were present inside the bus. Mansuri then coolly opened the cabin door and started the ignition, much to the shock of the bewildered passengers,” said police inspector Prakash Birajdar of Boisar MIDC police station.
But Mansuri was unable to control the heavy-duty vehicle, and as he drove the bus on the main road, he rammed into a tree.
“Locals then boarded the bus and pulled Mansuri out, and began thrashing him. Some officers who were patrolling the area caught hold of him and brought him to the station,” said Birajdar.
“We have arrested him under Section 379 (theft) and Section 511 (attempting to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and will produce him before the Palghar court soon,” Birajdar added.
“When we asked him why he stole the bus, Mansuri said he wanted to go to his village in UP, so he decided to drive all the way. His family claimed that he was under medication for mental illness, but we will get him medically examined by a government doctor,” he said.
Abhijit Bhosale, chief public relations officer, MSRTC, said, “We will suspend the driver after a departmental inquiry is conducted. It seems that Rajput did not lock the cabin door of the bus, and went to report to his superior. Since all MSRTC buses have push-button start ignition, it was easy for Mansuri to drive the bus away, said Bhosale.
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