PUNE: A 56-year-old Pune driver brooding over his Diwali bonus and nursing a grudge against colleagues who would allegedly order him around set fire to the staff minibus inside which four people were charred early Wednesday, police said after grisly details emerged on Thursday of the tragedy that was presumed to be an accident.
“Driver Janardhan Neelkanth Hambardikar, who has been an employee of Vyoma Graphics since 2006, has confessed to setting the minibus ablaze as he was upset over his salary and bonus being less than that of other staffers. He also resented being asked to do extra work beyond his job as a driver,” DCP Vishal Gaikwad told reporters.
Hambardikar was quoted as saying during interrogation that employees of the printing firm wouldn’t let him have breakfast on time. “He took affront at allegedly not being allowed to have breakfast at 9am despite everyone knowing he is a diabetic.”
Besides the casualties, 10 staffers suffered burns in the fire. Four of them were hospitalised in a critical condition.
The driver collected some benzene, a highly inflammable substance commonly used in the printing business, from the Vyoma Graphics press as part of what police said was a premeditated act of murder. The bus went up in flames in front of the Dassault campus at Hinjewadi IT Park around 7.30am on Wednesday.
Hambardikar jumped out of the driver’s cabin, as did some employees, as flames enveloped the vehicle. The four staffers who died were in the middle and rear seats.
Hambardikar, who had burns on his legs, is being treated at Ruby Hall Clinic. He will be arrested once he is discharged from hospital. “We have added murder and attempt-to-murder charges to the FIR,” DCP Gaikwad said.
Initial reports suggested a short circuit as the likely cause of fire. “Based on the circumstances leading to the fire and inputs from representatives of the regional transport office, the vehicle manufacturer and surviving staffers, we suspected sabotage,” Gaikwad said. “RTO officials and the vehicle manufacturer said there was no way a short circuit could have led to the sudden, fast and huge burst of flames that engulfed the minibus in a matter of seconds.”