New twist in Kurnool bus fire: Andhra police suspect 'third driver' triggered deadly chain of events

Kurnool bus fire

The Kurnool bus fire investigation has taken a new twist, with Andhra Pradesh Police now looking for a third suspect — the driver of another omni bus that believed to have travelled on the same route, The Indian Express reported.

Nineteen people were killed after a luxury bus caught fire and turned into ashes after it hit a two-wheeler on October 24. The bus travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru had 43 people on board. The accident occurred near Ullindakonda in Kurnool district.

As per the report, the police believe that the driver of another omni bus dragged the bike involved in the incident to the middle of the road, from where the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Kaveri Travels bus hit it and dragged it for another 300 meters before bursting into flames.

The biker, Shiva Shankar, was allegedly drunk and had met with an accident before the Bengaluru-bound bus collided with his motorcycle, the report added.

“When Shiva Shankar met with the accident, the bike fell near the divider. Shankar hit his head on the divider and died on the spot, and the pillion, Yerri Swamy, fell onto the divider,” K Praveen, the Kurnool DIG, told IE, adding that Swamy survived because the grass on the divider cushioned his fall.

Police said CCTV footage from a nearby petrol pump shows 14 vehicles passing by the accident spot. “One of the buses dragged the motorbike to the middle of the road and callously left it there. The Kaveri Travels bus — the 15th vehicle to pass — hit the bike and dragged it for 300 meters before the bike’s fuel tank burst into flames,” DIG Praveen was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

He added that the police discovered the involvement of another driver after reviewing dashboard camera footage from a different bus that had passed the spot.

“We realised the bike was dragged to the middle of the road by another bus because the dashboard footage shows Shiva Shankar’s bike had fallen near the divider, not in the middle of the road,” DIG Praveen told IE.

Had the driver of the other bus, which accidentally dragged the bike, stopped to move to the side of the road, the fatal accident could have been prevented, the officer said, adding, “We are yet to ascertain who this driver was. The dashboard visuals show another bus narrowly escaped the bike and did nothing about it.”

So far, two people — bus driver M. Lakshmaiah and owner Vemuri Vinod Kumar — have been booked by the police in connection with the case. As per the report, the second driver, Shiva Narayana, who helped rescue passengers trapped in the blaze, has not been booked. Lakshmaiah was remanded to judicial custody Wednesday.