Mumbai BEST bus crash: Court denies bail to driver Sanjay More

Mumbai BEST bus crash: Court denies bail to driver Sanjay More

Mumbai BEST bus crash: Court denies bail to driver Sanjay More ByHT News Desk Jan 10, 2025 05:05 PM IST Share Via Copy Link An electric bus of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) hit several vehicles late night on December 9 in the city's Kurla area.

A Mumbai court on Friday denied bail to Sanjay More, the driver of the BEST bus involved in the December 9 crash, which killed nine people and injured more than 40 in the city's Kurla area.

Nine people died and more than 40 were injured as a BEST bus collided with several vehicles in the Kurla area of Mumbai on December 9.(Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

An electric bus of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) hit several vehicles late at night that day on the arterial SG Barve Road.

More was arrested under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. His bail plea was rejected by additional sessions judge VM Pathade, though a detailed order has not been made available as yet.

In his plea filed through advocate Samadhan Sulane, More had claimed the accident was the result of a mechanical fault in the bus and that he had been unjustly arrested.

The prosecution, however, contended no technical fault was found in the ill-fated bus. After hearing arguments from both sides, judge Pathade rejected More's bail plea, PTI reported.

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The Mumbai RTO officials said they suspect “human error” and lack of “proper training” behind the horrific accident in Kurla on December 9, PTI reported.

An investigation team of the Wadala Regional Transport Office (RTO) found that brakes of the Olectra-make electric bus were operating well.

Initially, it was suspected that brake failure could be the cause of the accident. Driver More's family also claimed brake failure could have led to the incident and that he did not consume alcohol.

An official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI that when the

RTO team inspected the bus, it found its brakes were working fine. However, before submitting the probe report, they want to investigate a few more things, and hence they have sought some details from both Olectra and BEST.

"If a driver doesn't have experience driving an automatic transmission bus, he doesn't get proper judgment of acceleration and braking initially. Hence, it seems human error may have caused the accident," the official told PTI.