In a shocking development in the Hinjawadi bus fire case, it has come to light that the driver, identified as Janardan Hambardikar, had allegedly "pre-meditated" the incident, officials said.
According to the police, Hambardikar kept highly inflammable chemicals under his seat. As planned, he set the vehicle on fire and attempted to make it look like an accident.
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The police said that Hambardikar was angered after he was not given the Diwali bonus. He also had ongoing disputes with his colleagues in the company. Fed up with the constant arguments, he planned the entire incident as an act of revenge.
For the uninitiated, four employees of Vyoma Graphics were charred to death and six others were injured as the company minibus caught fire at 7.45am on Wednesday.
The emergency exit door at the rear side of the bus could not be opened, leading to casualties, said an official.
The bus was ferrying 14 employees from Warje to Hinjawadi.
The deceased were identified as Shankar Shinde (63), Rajan Chavan (42), Gurudas Lokare (45) and Subhash Bhosale (44), residents of Kothrud, Warje and Wadgaon areas. They worked as a supervisor, printing machine operator, courier person and paper cutting operator, respectively.
When the vehicle was near Dassault Systems, a fire broke out near the driver's feet. Hambardikar brought the bus to a halt as the flames spread. He and some of the employees got down immediately, while the four deceased who were in the rear of the bus tried to escape through the emergency exit near them but were charred to death.
