Cluster bus driver held for killing man in hit-and-run while drunk

New delhi: The Delhi Police on Wednesday said that they had arrested a 45-year-old cluster bus driver for crushing a 33-year-old man to death five days ago while driving the bus under the influence of alcohol near the Kashmere Gate Metro station. Police added the accused, identified as Pradeep alias Nagraj, was involved in 13 criminal cases, three of which were other accident cases.

The victim in the present case has been identified as Sanjay, a resident of Maujpur in north-east Delhi. The man used to work as a clerk at a private firm in Chandni Chowk and s survived by his wife and three children, the police here said.

Incidentally, the Delhi Police had nabbed the bus driver on the night of the hit-and-run on October 1 but in Mayapuri for another accident where he rammed his bus into a truck in West Delhi. While police in Mayapuri determined that Pradeep was drunk, he was let out on bail as driving under the influence is a bailable

offence.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Anto Alphonse said, "We received a PCR call at around 11:15 pm regarding an accident near metro gate no. 3, Kashmere Gate. On reaching the spot, the body of a man was found lying on the road. He was shifted to a mortuary and a case was registered at Kashmiri Gate police station."

Since the police did not find any eyewitnesses, they scanned more than footage from over CCTV cameras and examined around 350 commuters in the vicinity of the accident spot to get a clue, he said, adding that the police finally managed to spot the offending vehicle taking a U-turn immediately after the accident and speeding up the bus in a wrong lane.

To identify the offending vehicle, details of around 30 cluster buses that moved from Kashmere Gate on the night of October 1 were collected and their GPS locations obtained. During analysis, it was found that one bus running on route no. 753 was the only bus that moved in the wrong direction, the senior officer said.

Later, the driver was arrested from his residence in Issapur village following raids on Tuesday, added. On the night of the accident, the accused was under the influence of alcohol and while moving out of Mori Gate terminal, even the marshal and conductor refused to accompany him. So, he was driving the bus alone, the DCP said.

A case was registered against him at Mayapuri police station and the offending vehicle was seized, police said.