Former UPSRTC driver steals bus from Morna bus depot, arrested

The Gautam Budh Nagar police on Tuesday evening arrested a man for allegedly stealing a bus of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) from the Morna bus depot in Noida

The Gautam Budh Nagar police on Tuesday evening arrested a man for allegedly stealing a bus of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) from the Morna bus depot in Noida. The suspect, identified as Mukesh Sharma (55), was a contractual driver with the state roadways till February this year.

Former UPSRTC driver steals bus from Morna bus depot, arrested

According to the police, the suspect had requested the UPSRTC assistant regional manager to return his security money of ₹10,000 on Sunday, which is refundable for contractual drivers after they are relieved from the job.

“The UPSRTC officials did not refund the security money to Sharma and he was upset. The next day, he decided to steal the same bus which he used to drive from the Morna bus depot in Noida,” said Ashutosh Dwivedi, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.

On Monday, the bus was parked by its current driver Gyanendra Kumar at the Morna bus depot in a queue for CNG refill, said officials.

“As the queue was long, Kumar locked the bus and went for lunch. When he returned, the bus was missing. Kumar immediately raised an alarm and alerted the UPSRTC officials about the same. A complaint of the theft was registered at the Sector 24 police station on Monday,” said ADCP Dwivedi.

The police recovered the bus from Barola village in Noida on the same day. However, its battery was found missing. “Further, with the help of electronic surveillance, it was found that Sharma had driven the bus and parked it there. He was nabbed from his residence in Barola village on Tuesday,” ADCP Dwivedi added.

Upon interrogation, the suspect revealed that he had a duplicate key of the bus and he used it to steal the heavy vehicle. “Sharma was upset with UPSRTC for not releasing his security deposit and decided to steal the bus. He sold the battery of the bus to a scrap dealer. However, the battery has also been recovered by the police,” said ADCP Dwivedi.

The UPSRTC assistant general manager at Morna bus depot, NP Singh, said that he was informed that the suspect’s security money was withheld because he was fired from the job for poor behaviour.

“As per rules, the security money is refundable when the contractual driver resigns or retires from service. However, Sharma was fired by UPSRTC officials in February for obnoxious behaviour. Hence, his security money was withheld. Officials had been explaining this to the suspect for months but he was not ready to understand and instead argued with them,” said Singh.

The suspect has been booked under theft sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sent to judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate, police added.