Hyderabad: The Kurnool bus fire tragedy, which claimed 20 lives, has evoked a strong response from Hyderabad Police Commissioner V S Sajjanar.
Two days after the horrific accident, the top cop said that drunk drivers are “terrorists”, and won’t get any mercy for endangering innocent lives.
His harsh words came after it was revealed that the biker, whose two-wheeler hit the Hyderabad-Bengaluru private sleeper bus, was drunk and driving recklessly.
The biker, identified as Shiva Shankar, was among the 20 killed, but it was he who was responsible for the terrible tragedy, Sajjanar said.
Such actions, the police commissioner said, were nothing short of “acts of terror” on the roads, and called the incident a “criminal act of negligence.”
In a long post on X, Sajjanar wrote: “Drunk drivers are terrorists. Period. Drunk drivers are terrorists and their actions are nothing short of acts of terror on our roads. The horrific Kurnool bus accident, which claimed the lives of 20 innocent people, was not an accident in the truest sense. It was a preventable massacre, caused by the reckless and irresponsible behaviour of an intoxicated biker. This was not a road mishap but a criminal act of negligence that annihilated entire families within seconds.”
He went on to state that the biker was under the influence of alcohol. “CCTV footage shows him refuelling his motorcycle at 2.24 am, minutes before he lost control and caused the devastating collision at 2.39 am. His decision to drive drunk turned a moment of arrogance into a tragedy of unimaginable scale,” the police commissioner added.
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Sajjanar said such people destroy lives, families and futures, and asserted that Hyderabad police have a zero-tolerance approach to drunken driving in the city.
“Every single person caught driving under the influence will face the full force of law. There will be no leniency, no exceptions, and no mercy for those who endanger innocent lives. It’s time that we, as a society, stop calling drunken driving a mistake. It is a crime that shatters lives and must be punished accordingly,” Sajjanar further said.
A case of reckless driving has been registered against Shiva Shankar, who died after losing control of his bike on ramming the bus, and hit himself against the divider. The bike was dragged forward underneath the bus, leading to the bursting of the bike’s fuel tank and subsequent fire.
Erriswami, the pillion rider, filed the police case after surviving the accident. As per the FIR, Erriswami and Shankar consumed alcohol before setting out on their motorcycle.
