Noida: Driver of bus that killed momo seller, arrested

The driver told the police that he had dozed off. Police arrrested him near the Sector 113 temple on Friday evening with the help of manual surveillance and intelligence inputs

Noida: Three days after one person was killed and another was left critically injured after a bus ploughed into their food stall near a residential society in Noida, the Noida police arrested the absconding suspect who was allegedly driving the bus, officers said on Friday.

The incident had occurred around 7pm on Tuesday when a private bus, heading from Sector 115 towards Sector 118, crashed into the boundary wall of Sriram Apartments in Sector 118 after running over two people working on a food cart right next to the wall. (HT Photo)

The driver of the bus was identified as Rohit Kumar (32), a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri. During interrogation, he told police that he had dozed off. He was arrested near the Sector 113 temple on Friday evening with the help of manual surveillance and intelligence inputs, said officers, adding that he had been absconding since the crash.

The incident had occurred around 7pm on Tuesday when a private bus, heading from Sector 115 towards Sector 118, crashed into the boundary wall of Sriram Apartments in Sector 118 after running over two people working on a food cart right next to the wall on the roadside.

While one of the injured named Deepak (30) died on the spot, the other identified as Sushil (18) was rushed to a nearby hospital where he is still undergoing treatment. By the time police reached the spot around 7.10pm, the driver and passengers of the bus had fled the spot, officers said.

“Kumar was changing his location frequently to evade police… He has been booked under charges of sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (death due to negligence), 338 (causing grievous injury) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Manish Mishra.

During interrogation, the driver said that he had fallen asleep while driving the bus, investigators informed.

“The suspect works as a driver for a transport company that provides transport for a Greater Noida-based appliance manufacturing factory. As per the driver, he had not been able to sleep for two days because of which he seemed to have fallen asleep on the wheel, which led to the crash,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.

Kumar was produced before the court and sent to judicial custody on Friday.