Pune Bus Fire: Driver Orchestrated Tragedy to Avenge Workplace Disputes, Claims Police

Pune Bus Fire: Driver Planned Tragedy to Take Revenge for Workplace Grievances, Says Police

Driver Smuggled Benzene, Used Toner Rags to Plan Lethal Pune Bus Fire

The blaze that consumed a minibus transporting staff of graphic design company Vyoma Graphics in Hinjewadi on Wednesday morning, killing four and injuring five others, was not an accident but a premeditated act of revenge by the driver of the vehicle, Hinjewadi police said on Thursday.

By nightfall, the police had already begun the procedure for filing a first information report (FIR) and the arrest of the driver.

The fire broke out at about 7:30 AM when the bus was transporting 14 staff members to the office for the morning shift. As per Vishal Gaikwad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), the 52-year-old accused driver, Janardan Humbardekar, had intentionally torched the bus in protest of work-related issues, such as frequent arguments with the staff he was transporting.

The police initially suspected that a short-circuit could have led to the fire. But the theory was ruled out after the confession of the driver.

“This was not an accident; it was a premeditated act,” Gaikwad stated at a press conference at Hinjewadi Police Station on Thursday evening.

Humbardekar, a Warje area resident, allegedly brought benzene into the vehicle the previous day, stored rags meant for toner cleaning within the vehicle, and then set them ablaze using a matchstick when the bus stopped at a one-way section in Hinjewadi Phase 1. He left the vehicle before the fire could spread. Humbardekar also received minor burns and was being treated at a private hospital.

As the fire erupted, the driver leaped off the bus while it was moving. The bus moved on driverlessly for about 200 meters before it collided with a tree.

Kanhaiya Thorat, Senior Inspector from Hinjewadi Police Station, stated that Humbardekar, an employee of the company since 2006, often used to quarrel with four to five employees who would regularly travel in the vehicle. During the police investigation, it was found that he was upset over deductions from his salary and not being given a Diwali bonus for working overtime.

His anger reached a boiling point on Tuesday when he could not locate his tiffin and had to go hungry. Already irate about salary reductions and labor disputes, this act was the final straw. “He chose to exact revenge on the employees,” Thorat said.

Humbardekar reportedly made the confession in police custody during questioning, that he had planned the attack in advance, purchased the incendiary chemical, and had ensured the bus’s emergency exit was faulty so that passengers would be unable to escape. The police took his statement on Thursday morning.

The police, in the first probe, had concluded that employees perished largely due to the fact that the emergency exit at the back end of the minibus was faulty, and they couldn’t escape.

From Ruby Hall Clinic, Hinjewadi, where Humbardekar and two other victims are being treated, the driver of the bus incurred only superficial burn injuries. He is expected to be discharged within a couple of days, officials at the hospital said.

Identified Victims

Four staff members died in the fire. They were identified as:

• Shankar Shinde, 63 – Supervisor 
• Rajan Chavan, 42 – Printing Machine Operator 
• Gurudas Lokare, 45 – Courier 
• Subhash Bhosale, 44 – Paper Cutting OperatorAll the

  victims were Pune residents and were working in different capacities for the company.With this shocking

  news, the authorities are under pressure to make sure grievances at the workplace do not turn into such extreme actions. The investigations are ongoing as police are collecting more evidence about the tragic event.