Yamuna Expressway bus fire: Police identify all 9 victims, arrest travel firm manager

Two days after nine people were charred to death in a fire on a double-decker AC bus travelling on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, police on Friday, identified all three remaining passengers, including a mother and son

Two days after nine people were charred to death in a fire on a double-decker AC bus travelling on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, police on Friday, identified all three remaining passengers, including a mother and son.

Police arrested the manager of the Raj Kalpana Travels, private travel company that was operating the bus for alleged negligence. (HT Photo)

Police also arrested the manager of the Raj Kalpana Travels, private travel company that was operating the bus for alleged negligence.

The incident took place on Wednesday night and there were 35 passengers on board, of whom 26 escaped. By Thursday evening, police had identified six of the deceased — three women, Shruti Rawat, in her 30s, and Usha Devi and Saroj, aged 62 and 52; and three men, Harisharan (55), Devendra Bharadwaj (60) and Mayank Gupta (28).

“On Friday, all three deceased victims, including a woman, were identified by their family members,” Dr Rishabh Singh, a forensic specialist, told HT.

The victims included mother and son — Sunita (46) and Shashank Gupta (30), residents of Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh — and Om Prakash (42), a resident of Surajpur in Mahoba.

According to a police officer who is part of the investigation, “Shashank was identified with the help of a ring on his finger, while his mother was identified by her brother-in-law.”

They were relatives of a sub-divisional magistrate posted in Gautam Budh Nagar.

Sunita’s husband, Neeraj Gupta, said she had been living with their son Shashank, an engineer, in Gurugram for about a month. Shashank had been caring for his mother, who was undergoing treatment for knee pain and had difficulty walking.

The mother and son were travelling to Mahoba after Neeraj’s brother, Dhirendra Gupta, suffered a heart attack three days before the accident. With no train reservations available, they boarded booked bus.

When the bus caught fire, Shashank tried to rescue his mother. As other passengers rushed to safety, Sunita struggled to escape because of her limited mobility. Shashank stayed back, refusing to leave without her and insisted that he would leave only after taking his mother with him.

Om Prakash was identified on Friday after his wife approached the police. “His wife had been unaware of the bus incident. She had been searching for him since Thursday morning, but when a relative asked her to check with the police, she approached us,” said the officer.

He worked at a private company and was going to attend the cremation of a relative. “We learned that the majority of people on the bus were going to attend the funerals of their relatives,” the officer added.

Devendra Bharadwaj from Hisar, Haryana, who also died in the fire, while his wife escaped, was also going to attend a funeral in Mahoba.

According to police, all the bodies were being handed over to their families after the post-mortem examination.

Manager arrested for negligence

Meanwhile, the manager was arrested for negligence, in the fourth arrest since Thursday.

“The suspect, Vikas, 40, was arrested for allegedly neglecting the condition of the bus, which caused the fire,” said Rajeev Kumar Sisodia, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida.

The ACP added, “Vikas was produced before the court and sent to 14-day judicial custody.”

Police said they were also investigating the lapses of other people involved in the incident and that more arrests could be possible. Police are also checking when the bus was last serviced.

Government directs third-party investigation

Separately, the Uttar Pradesh transport department said it had completed its investigation on Thursday and found only minor issues in the bus.

“The government late on Friday assigned an independent investigation to the SaveLIFE Foundation, which will work under the supervision of a judge,” said Sanjay Kumar, Regional Inspector, Gautam Budh Nagar.

He added, “SaveLIFE Foundation will technically inspect the bus and submit its report to the government.”

SaveLIFE Foundation — an independent, specialist non-profit organisation committed to improving road safety and trauma care — also confirmed the development to HT while declining to share further details.

“Investigation is underway in this regard, and we will comment once it is completed,” said a representative of SaveLIFE Foundation.

The fire broke out around 11pm near the 33-km mark close to Dayanatpur village in Jewar as the bus was travelling from Delhi’s Kashmere Gate to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh. While 26 passengers managed to escape, nine were trapped inside and died. Two drivers and the conductor, who escaped from the bus, were later arrested.

Two emergency exits –– one at the rear and another on the right side –– were found closed when firefighters reached the spot, and they had to cut open the left side of the bus near the entrance to retrieve the bodies.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly fires involving sleeper buses on Indian highways, renewing questions over the safety of the increasingly common long-distance coaches. The Union government told Parliament in December 2025 that at least 64 people had died in 45 incidents of buses catching fire while in operation over the preceding three years.

Police said the bus had two drivers, Pawan Kumar and Yogesh Dixit, and a conductor, Rohit Kumar, all in their 20s and residents of Kanpur Dehat. They escaped after the fire but were later arrested from a nearby area.

A case was registered at Jewar police station on the complaint of passenger Sunil Kumar, 20, a resident of Mahoba, under Sections 281, 125(b), 105 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the driver and conductor.

X account booked for spreading ‘false information’

The cybercrime police in Greater Noida late Thursday night registered a case against an X account for “public mischief” and provisions of the IT Act in relation to a video on the Greater Noida bus fire.

In the FIR, filed by Sub-Inspector Sumit Kumar, it was said that “a video of the Greater Noida bus fire incident was uploaded by an X account on Thursday with a caption targeting a political party.”

HT has seen the FIR. The case was registered under Sections 353(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, related to penalising the circulation of false information with intent to cause public mischief, and relevant section 66 of the IT Act at the cybercrime Branch police station.

“The post indicates that the person deliberately attempted to spread false and inflammatory information in a planned manner and create fear, anger and distrust among the general public towards the state administration. It also appears to have been intended to incite the public towards violence, disorder or taking the law into their own hands, which cannot be ruled out as an attempt to disturb public peace,” it added.