Commuters notice bus driver is drunk, stop him from driving

The police soon zeroed in on the driver and arrested Amol Vitthol Chole, 33, a resident of Tadiwala road

Pune: Alert passengers travelling on a state transport bus from Pune to Usmanabad saved the day for many when they noticed a drunk man dressed in civil clothes driving their bus and immediately raised an alarm.

The incident took place around 9.50 pm on Wednesday at the Shivajinagar bus stop.

The police soon zeroed in on the driver and arrested Amol Vitthol Chole, 33, a resident of Tadiwala road. A case was registered with Shivajinagar police station after Jinasrao Shriram Oval, 57, of Sainiknagar, lodged a complaint.

Also Read: Drunk father tries to kill son, daughter for demanding money for books

Senior inspector B D Kopnar of Shivajinagar police station said, "Chole is an employee of the state transport department and was on his weekly off on Wednesday. He had planned to travel to Beed when he spotted a Shivshahi bus to Usmanabad. Its driver had stepped out to report to his duty in-charge at the depot while the conductor was waiting outside."

That's when Chole sat at the steering wheel. The passengers, however, noticed that he was drunk and dressed in civil clothes. They raised an alarm but he had begun driving by then. After driving for about 150 meters, the driver was confronted by a passenger. He then fled the spot and hid in a public toilet from where the cops arrested him.

Tragedy averted

In a similar incident in January 2012, driver Santosh Mane had allegedly driven a bus across Pune city for an hour and killed nine people in the process and injured 16 others apart from damaging property.

Also Read: Mumbai Crime: Heavily drunk men kidnap police constable on duty after arguing with him at Chembur

Jan '12
A drunk driver ran over nine people in Pune

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!