Thane (PTI): Sixty five passengers travelling in a bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire in Maharashtra's Thane city on Tuesday, a civic official said.

The incident took place at around 8 am near Utaleshwar in the city limits, Thane Municipal Corporation's regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Avinash Sawant said.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus carrying at least 65 passengers was on way to neighbouring Bhiwandi town from Thane, he said.

After noticing the fire, the driver immediately stopped the bus and raised an alarm following which the passengers got down, the official said.

The bus was partly burnt, he said.

Local firemen and a team of the RDMC rushed to the spot after being alerted and doused the blaze in half-an-hour, he said.

A short-circuit is suspected to have caused the fire in the bus, which belonged to the Bhiwandi depot, the official said.

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Varanasi: Comedian Shyam Rangeela has finally filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, May 14, the last day of filing papers.

Rangeela, who intended to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged on Monday that he was being denied a nomination from the seat, as he along with several other candidates were reportedly made to wait for filling papers on May 10th and May 13th.

Shyam Rangeela, taking to his official ‘X’ handle, wrote, "With your love and support, I have completed all the requirements as per the rules and submitted the nomination. I also have full faith in the democracy of this country. Now the next two-three days are crucial. Thank you all very much for your cooperation. My electoral future rests in the hands of all election officials who are the custodians of our democracy. With the hope that they all strengthen our faith, Yours Shyam Rangeela.”

Alongside, Shyam, BJP candidate Narendra Modi, Log Party's Vinay Kumar Tripathi, BJP's Surendra Narayan Singh, independent candidates Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Reena Rai, Neha Jaiswal, Ajit Kumar Jaiswal, Ashok Kumar Pandey, Sandeep Tripathi filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.

According to the Election Commision of India, a total of 41 candidates have filed nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency.