Could come out of burning vehicle alive by breaking its window: Survivor of Maha bus tragedy
Buldhana (PTI): One of the survivors of the ill-fated bus that caught fire and led to the death of 25 passengers in Maharashtra's Buldhana district on Saturday, said he and a few others managed to come out of the burning vehicle by breaking its rear window.
The accident took place on the Samruddhi Expressway near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana when the private passenger bus going from Nagpur to Pune rammed into a road divider around 1.30 am. Of the 33 passengers in the bus, 25 were charred to death, police said.
"A tyre of the bus burst and the vehicle caught fire immediately. The blaze spread in no time," the survivor said.
"The passenger seated next to me and I managed to escape by breaking the rear window," he said.
The survivor said that after the accident, teams of police and fire brigade reached the site quickly.
A local resident said four to five passengers managed to escape by breaking one window of the bus.
"But not everyone could do it," he said.
The people who could come out of the bus later told us that they sought help from other vehicles on the highway, but nobody stopped, he added.
"Many accidents take place on this route at Pimpalkhuta. We were called for help and when we went there, we saw the horrible situation. The tyres had fallen apart," the local resident said.
"People inside were trying to break the windows. We saw people getting burnt alive...The fire was so intense that we could not do anything. We were in tears...," he said.
Had the vehicles passing by the highway stopped for help, more lives could have been saved, he added.
Eight survivors of the bus tragedy have been rushed to a nearby hospital and are safe, police said.
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'Contract killing' plot busted in Thane; victim's brother among four held
Thane (PTI): The Thane police have uncovered a "contract killing" plot and arrested four persons, including the victim's younger brother, who allegedly hired the assailants and lodged the complaint to mislead investigators and hide his role in the murder, officials said on Sunday.
The victim, identified as Paresh Tolaram Patil (40), was hacked to death on May 12 over a property dispute, and his brother allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to the contract killers, an official said.
The same day, Naresh Tolaram Patil (37), an auto-rickshaw driver residing in the Bhiwandi area of Maharashtra's Thane district, lodged a police complaint alleging that his elder brother Paresh had been murdered by unidentified persons.
According to Naresh, his brother was riding his motorcycle to work at Vasai in neighbouring Palghar district when the unidentified assailants intercepted him and assaulted him with sharp weapons, in-charge Superintendent of Police Anmol Mittal said.
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Following the complaint, the Ganeshpuri police registered a case of murder on May 13.
The investigation teams examined several CCTV recordings along the suspected escape routes and used advanced technical surveillance.
The police then traced the registration plate of a vehicle allegedly used by the assailants, leading to the arrest of three alleged contract killers -- Rakesh Bhagwan Patil (37), Premjit Madhukar Gharat (38), and Daksh Bhanukant Bhoir (24) -- from Palghar, the official said.
"During intense interrogation, the three persons confessed to their involvement in the killing. They revealed that the plot was masterminded by the victim's brother, Naresh Patil, who had lodged the initial police complaint to misguide the law enforcement agencies," he said.
According to the official, Naresh Patil confessed to hatching the conspiracy due to an ongoing property dispute with his elder brother and that he had offered Rs 10 lakh to the three accused to eliminate Paresh.
Naresh Patil has also been arrested, and a further probe is underway into the case, they added.
