Young woman’s life cut short by crazed bus passenger
The deceased, Nupur Maniyar, was on a scooter with her fiancée when the bus rammed into her, leaving her with fatal injuries
Mumbai: A 28-year-old woman, who was soon to get married and on the verge of starting a new career, lost her life in a freak accident when a drunk passenger forcibly turned the steering wheel of a BEST bus, causing mayhem on a Sion road on Sunday evening. The deceased, Nupur Maniyar, was on a scooter with her fiancée when the bus rammed into her, leaving her with fatal injuries.
The crash occurred when the bus passenger, Datta Murlidhar Shinde, engaged in an altercation with the driver, Kamlesh Prajapati, over stopping the bus at a signal. Shinde forcibly turned the wheel during the altercation, leading to the bus colliding with the scooter Nupur was on as well as two other cars and a few pedestrians. Nupur’s fiancée, a banker, was also injured in the incident. He was brought to pay his last respects to Nupur on Monday and taken back to Gleneagles hospital in Parel where he is recovering.
A friend of the family said Nupur had lost her father, who worked in the Income Tax department, during Covid. After he died, she was given his job on compassionate grounds. “Recently, her job as a clerk was finalised as permanent in the Income Tax department, where her father had worked,” the friend said. Nupur is survived by her mother and younger sister.
On Monday evening, Nupur’s body was kept in the veranda of Mukthai building, near Chinchpokli station, where she had been living for a decade. Her body was taken to the cremation ground around 4.30pm. Harshita Jain, a friend of the family, said, “Nupur was supposed to get married after Diwali. She had gone shopping with her fiancée and was returning home when the accident took place.”
Elaborating on the accident, a police officer said the bus, plying on Route 66, was on its way from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Sion when the incident happened. “After having a few drinks in Colaba, the accused, Shinde, took the bus from CSMT to go to his home in Lalbaug. Around 8.20pm, the bus reached Sant Jagnade Chowk, Lalbaug, when Shinde asked the driver to stop at a signal. When the driver refused, Shinde caught Prajapati by his collar and started assaulting him. In the altercation, Shinde pulled the steering wheel and the driver lost control of the bus, which then swerved to the left and hit some pedestrians and vehicles,” said the officer. Apart from Nupur and her fiancée, eight others were also injured in the accident.
A police officer added that Nupur was pressed between the bus and a car, which led to her death. “Doctors told us she suffered internal bleeding and got two cardiac arrests after the accident,” said the police officer.
Shinde, 40, has been booked under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult that provokes a breach of peace) and 324 (mischief) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and section 84 (penalty for being drunk and for disorderly behaviour) of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act.