Stolen Telangana state bus found cut into plates in Maharashtra scrap yard

The Metro Express bus plying between Afzalgunj and Ambedkar Nagar in Kushaiguda (Route No. 3D), was brought to the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station at Imlibun around midnight on Tuesday and parked there. However, it was reported missing early on Wednesday morning.

A bus belonging to the Telangana state road transport corporation (TSRTC), which was stolen from a Hyderabad bus depot early on Wednesday, was found in a dismantled condition at a mechanic’s shed in Maharashtra’s Nanded district on Thursday evening.

A team of police from Hyderabad left for Nanded on Thursday afternoon and found the bus in a dismantled condition at a mechanic shed at Kinkidi village about 10 km from Nanded town. (HT Photo)

The Metro Express bus plying between Afzalgunj and Ambedkar Nagar in Kushaiguda (Route No. 3D), was brought to the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station at Imlibun around midnight on Tuesday and parked there. However, it was reported missing early on Wednesday morning.

The RTC authorities immediately reported the matter to the Afzalgunj police who launched a search operation. The police, under the auspices of Deputy Inspector General M Ramesh Reddy, inspected the video footage obtained from closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) in the bus station and also all the toll plazas on various national highways connecting Hyderabad city.

“We also alerted all the police stations in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where there are mechanical sheds that deal with iron scrap. Finally, we managed to identify the route on which the bus travelled - from Hyderabad to Nanded via Nizamabad and Basara in Adilabad district,” Ramesh Reddy told reporters.

“They removed the top portion of the bus and cut into the plates. We caught them while they were trying to remove the other parts of the chassis, engine and seats on Thursday evening,” the police official said.