Bhandup Bus Crash: Mumbai Court Frames Culpable Homicide Charges Against BEST Driver

Mumbai: A sessions court has framed charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Santosh Sawant, the bus driver accused in the December accident outside Bhandup railway station that killed four people and injured 12.

Sawant was produced before the court through video conferencing from prison on Friday, and the charges were read out to him. He pleaded not guilty and opted to face trial. The court is expected to begin hearing the case after completing the required procedural formalities.

According to the case registered at Bhandup police station, the accident took place on December 29, 2025, when Sawant was driving BEST’s nine-metre-long electric bus on Route 606.

Sawant’s lawyer, Devendra Patil, has argued that he was not given proper training to operate an electric bus and that this reduced his culpability, as the incident was an accident.

However, while rejecting Sawant’s bail plea, the court observed that he knew he had not been trained and was unfamiliar with the bus’s driving technique. “He casually sat in the driver’s seat, disregarding the possible consequences of the bus running over hundreds of people,” the court had said.

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