Six parked Shivshahi buses “set on fire” in Satara; 1 person detained for questioning

PUNE The Satara Police have detained one person into custody for questioning after six Shivshahi buses parked at the state bus-stand were set on fire on Wednesday evening

PUNE The Satara Police have detained one person into custody for questioning after six Shivshahi buses parked at the state bus-stand were set on fire on Wednesday evening.

HT Image

According to police, the unidentified suspect set the buses on fire around 6 pm. The act was seen by an the unidentified person who has been taken into custody.

Nobody was injured in the incident.

Authorities claimed that an unstable youth had lit a cigarette and left it inside one of the parked buses, leading to the fire.

The fire brigade department took three hours to bring the fire under control.

Satara ST depot Manager Reshma Gadekar said, “The buses were hired on rent and had been parked inside since the lockdown period. Notices were issued thrice to the private operator to remove them, but the calls went unheeded. Only the structure remains intact, but the engines are safe and in working condition.”

The state transport department maintained that the burnt buses were parked since March.

The department could not move the buses to safety as their batteries were not running and the ignition was shut, ST authorities said.

Around a dozen buses were parked inside the depot at the time of the accident.

Police officials monitoring the situation said that since the bus glasses were broken and the seats were damaged, the accused dumped a lighted cigarette without knowing the consequences.

The fuel inside the tanks led to escalation of flames, police said.