The Mumbai police, which is investigating the accident case involving a BEST bus that killed nine people and injured 49 in a crowded area in Kurla, filed a chargesheet of over 1,000 pages against the driver Sanjay More before the metropolitan magistrate court on Tuesday.
The police also named the CEO of the wet lease company that hired the driver as well as the director of the firm that supplied the electric bus to Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST).
“The director of EveyTrans Private Limited and the CEO of Morya Trans India Limited have also been named as accused in the chargesheet because our investigation revealed negligence in hiring and training the driver, which played a role in causing the mishap,” said an officer.
According to the police, around 9.30 pm on December 9, 2024, the BEST bus travelling from Kurla station to Andheri lost control near Anjuman-E-Islam school in Kurla West and crashed into 22 vehicles, including a police van, cars, two-wheelers and hand carts. Four people died on the spot while five succumbed to injuries at the hospital.
In the chargesheet, the police stated that the driver More was medically unfit to drive the electric bus as he suffered from high blood pressure and vision impairment. Additionally, adequate training was not provided to him and evidence showed that it was a human error on the driver’s part as he lost control over the vehicle.
The police have included CCTV footage of the incident, the driver’s blood sample, other forensic test reports, the statements of over 40 witnesses and the death certificates of the victims in the chargesheet.