In the wake of the latest bus fire in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar on Sunday described drunk drivers as "terrorists" and warned that those caught driving under the influence here would face the full force of the law, with no mercy for anyone endangering innocent lives.
Referring to the incident, Sajjanar said in a post on 'X', "Drunk drivers are terrorists and their actions are nothing short of acts of terror on our roads. The horrific Kurnool bus accident was not an accident in the truest sense. It was a preventable massacre caused by the reckless and irresponsible behaviour of an intoxicated biker." The commissioner added, "This was not a road mishap but a criminal act of negligence that annihilated entire families within seconds." Further, he said, "The biker, identified as B Shiva Shankar, was under the influence of alcohol. CCTV footage shows him refuelling his motorcycle at 2.24 am, minutes before he lost control and caused the devastating collision at 2.39 am. His decision to drive drunk turned a moment of arrogance into a tragedy of unimaginable scale." He reiterated, "I stand firmly by my statement that drunk drivers are terrorists in every sense. They destroy lives, families, and futures, and such acts will never be tolerated." Sajjanar said the Hyderabad police are adopting a zero-tolerance stance on drunk driving.
"Every single person caught driving under the influence will face the full force of the law. There will be no leniency, no exceptions, and no mercy for those who endanger innocent lives. It is time we, as a society, stop calling drunk driving a mistake. It is a crime that shatters lives and must be punished accordingly," he added.
Andhra Pradesh police confirmed on Sunday that the two people on the motorbike connected to the Bengaluru-bound bus fire accident, which tragically claimed the lives of 19 passengers, were intoxicated. In the early hours of October 24, the sleeper coach ran over a two-wheeler, which had already been involved in an accident, at Chinna Tekuru village in Kurnool district. There were 44 passengers on the bus, and several managed to escape. The two-wheeler was dragged forward underneath the bus, leading to the bursting of its fuel tank, which subsequently ignited and intensified the blaze with the explosion of the bus's two 12 KV batteries.
"We just received the forensic confirmation that the two bike-borne persons (Siva Shankar and Erri Swamy) were drunk," Koya Praveen, Kurnool Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, told media. Although police were aware that the duo was in an inebriated condition, they had waited for forensic evidence before confirming the fact.
The DIG had confirmed on Saturday night that the pair had eaten at a dhaba and that Swamy had admitted to consuming alcohol.
According to police, Shankar and Swamy had started off on the two-wheeler from Lakshmipuram village around 2 am on October 24 to drop Swamy at Tuggali village in Kurnool district. En route, the duo halted at the HP petrol bunk near the Kia car showroom to fill petrol at 2:24 am, said Kurnool Superintendent of Police Vikrant Patil.
A video of their halt at the petrol bunk went viral, showing Shankar riding the two-wheeler rashly. Shortly after resuming their journey, the two-wheeler skidded, resulting in Shankar falling to his right and hitting the divider, dying instantly. This happened amid widespread rainfall in the southern state, which left roads wet and muddy.
Patil said that when Swamy pulled Shankar from the middle of the road and checked him, he realised his friend had died on the spot. "Even as he was thinking of pulling the bike aside from the road, the bus rushed in and ran over it, dragging it forward to some distance," Patil added.
Since Shankar’s body was pulled off the road by Swamy before the bus ran over it, it was mostly intact and not burned like the bus victims. This allowed the forensic investigation to confirm his intoxication, according to DIG Praveen. Following the two back-to-back accidents and the bus becoming engulfed in a raging fire, Swamy panicked and left for his native village of Tuggali. Police later picked up Swamy and questioned him to unearth crucial details of the tragic accident.
Miriyala Lakshmaiah (42), the driver at the wheel during the accident, told police he "couldn't see until he went near the motorbike."
The DIG quoted Lakshmaiah as saying, "The driver's version was that visibility was less. 'I couldn't see till I went near the motorbike. I couldn't see at all. When I heard the sound, I applied the brakes and pulled over the bus.'"
Lakshmaiah told police that the fire started when he reversed the bus. He then claimed he managed to alight through the fire and woke up the second driver, Siva Narayana. A panicked Lakshmaiah then left the accident spot, police said.
The second driver, Narayana, confirmed that the main door on the driver's side was jammed and that fire was also present at the main passenger door. Narayana told police they first broke the emergency door. He then heard an exploding sound and thought it was a tyre burst, but the noise was actually the explosion of the batteries, the DIG said. Narayana later broke several other windows with a jockey rod, enabling 19 passengers to escape from the bus.
The DIG previously noted that the explosion of the two 12 KV batteries, located behind the passenger door, was the major cause of the inferno. He also confirmed that DNA profiling has been completed for all 19 bodies, which have now been handed over to their families.
Also read: DNA tests of Kurnool bus fire victims to complete by Monday
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