Passengers' kin seek police help to identify bodies

Four families from Pune looking for their relatives have approached the Manor police following the Wednesday's bus accident. Eight bodies, including that of the bus driver, were charred beyond recognition. These were brought to the JJ Hospital in Byculla for collection of samples that will sent for DNA test. The bodies of bus driver Shaukat Maulani (47) and passenger Suraj Chavan (40) from Chiplun, Ratnagiri, were partially identified by their families later on Wednesday.

Relatives of passengers Sunil Rane, Sangram Talekar and Subhash Jogdenkar have approached the Manor police after they failed to contact their near and dear ones. They were among those who had taken the bus. They are feared to be among those dead. The family of Rahul Gaekwad (25), the cleaner of the bus, has also approached the police for identification of the body.

Doctors at the JJ Hospital, however, are unhappy about bodies from peripheral hospitals being regularly sent for post-mortem to their hospital. The hospital currently has 11 unidentified bodies in its mortuary, seven victims of the Manor bus accident and four of the Dehradun Express fire. "The blood samples required to be drawn from the deceased as well as their relatives for DNA testing can be done in any government facility. The authorities, however, are putting the relatives through great hardship by sending them all the way to JJ Hospital every time," said a senior doctor.

The 35-seater sleeper coach met with an accident at Manor when it collided with a diesel tanker early Wednesday. The police have yet to get a list of bona fide passengers who travelled on the bus. They claim there was political pressure to go slow on the number of bona fide passengers. It is believed that many a passengers have boarded without proper tickets. The tanker driver Shafique Siddiqui has been arrested. He will be produced before the Palghar sessions court on Friday. The police, who had earlier booked Siddiqui for causing death by negligence under section 304 (a) of the IPC, will now seek his arrest under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The police said that Siddiqui had risked the lives of many by parking the tanker in the middle of the highway. He had failed to inform the police after the tanker was allegedly hit by an unidentified vehicle, causing its malfunction.

Friday 31 January 2014

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