Man steals MSRTC bus in Mumbai, rams in into tree minutes later, arrested

When Sabir Ali Mansuri, 31, decided to travel to his village in UP from Palghar on Tuesday morning, he thought of taking the easier way out – he stole an MSRTC bus from the Boisar depot.

However, within minutes, he lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into a tree. The vehicle got stuck in a ditch on the busy Boisar-Tarapur Road.

According to the Boisae MIDC police, the man appears to be mentally unstable and has been arrested, while the MSRTC will be suspending the driver of the bus for leaving the cabin door unlocked.

Mansuri, a resident of Palghar, arrived at the Boisar ST depot at around 11:30am and saw the driver of the bus leave the cabin door unlocked.

“A few passengers were present in the bus, which was to proceed from Boisar to Palghar. Mansuri then coolly opened the cabin door and started the ignition, much to the shock of the bewildered passengers,” said police inspector Prakash Birajdar of Boisar MIDC police station.

However, the Mansuri was unable to control the heavy-duty vehicle, and as he drove the bus on the main road, he rammed into a tree, said police.

“Locals then boarded the bus and pulled Mansuri out, and started thrashing him. Some police personnel, who were patrolling the area, then caught hold of him and brought him to the police station,”said Birajdar.

“We have arrested him under Section 379 (theft) and Section 511 (attempting to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and will be produced before the Palghar court soon,” said police.

“When we asked why he stole the bus, Mansuri said he wanted to go to his village in UP, so he decided to drive all the way. His family claimed that he was under medication for mental illness, but we will get him medically examined by a government doctor,” said PI Birajdar.

MSRTC SPEAK

Abhijit Bhosale, CPRO, MSRTC, said, “We will suspend the driver after a departmental inquiry is conducted. It seems that Rajput did not lock the cabin door of the bus, and went to report to his superior . Since all MSRTC buses have push-button start ignition, it was easy for Mansuri to drive the bus away, said Bhosale.