Death penalty for Pune bus driver who mowed down 9, injured 30

A former driver with the Maharashtra state bus service who had killed nine people and injured over 30 when he sped around in a frenzy through Pune, has been sentenced to death by a sessions court today.

Santosh Mane, was sentenced to death in a Pune court for his involvement in driving off in an MSRTC bus on 3 February 2012 and running over people as he sped along Pune’s streets.

Mane had reportedly used a master key for the buses to hijack the bus that was meant to leave for the Satara district and drove out from the Swargate bus terminal in Pune.

Additional Sessions Judge V K Shevale termed the crime committed by the Maharashtra State Transport driver as “rarest of the rare” and said he killed people by running them over, fully conscious of the consequences of his act.

Rejecting the argument by Mane’s lawyers that he had committed the crime in a fit of insanity, the court passed strictures on the defence witness and psychiatrist Dilip Burte for giving “false evidence” in court.

The judge, who had convicted the driver of murder on 3 April, observed that Mane was fully conscious of his actions as he did not dash the vehicle against any building on the roads but targeted people to kill them.

“The accused has committed the murder of nine persons by moving the bus dangerously with the intention and knowledge that the act was so imminently dangerous that it will cause death or bodily harm,” the judge observed.

Defence counsel Dhananjay Mane said his client would appeal against the sentence.

Driving on the wrong side of the road, Mane drove for around 45 minutes until a group comprising of city police personnel and civilians who were chasing him managed to stop the bus and overpower him.

Mane had reportedly contended that he was mentally unsound but the claim was rejected by the court which noted that he had gone on the rampage a day after requesting his superiors for shorter working hours.

The court had rejected the argument that he was mentally unsound and said Mane’s had intended “to kill or cause grievous injuries”, NDTV reported.

The court held the former driver guilty under sections of the Indian Penal Code including murder, attempted murder, theft, assault and under relevant sections of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.

with inputs from PTI