New CCTV Footage Adds A Twist In Andhra Bus Fire Probe

There is a twist in the probe into the Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus fire that killed 19 in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district on October 24.

New CCTV footage has emerged that suggests the biker had already died in an accident much before the ill-fated bus hit the motorcycle. The motorcycle involved in the accident was lying on the road as a stationary hazard even as multiple vehicles went past avoiding a collision but not stopping to help -- even though it was obviously an emergency situation.

This has forced the police to broaden the scope of the probe from a simple collision to a systemic failure of human responsibility and highway safety protocols. Apathy on the highway and failure to stop and give help had contributed to the subsequent accident.

Initial reports suggested the private luxury bus had collided with a moving two-wheeler, instantly killing the rider, Shiva Shankar, 21. However, forensic reconstruction and the statement of the pillion rider, Erri Swamy, painted a much darker picture of events that transpired in the pre-dawn hours on the NH-44 highway.

According to Kurnool SP Vikrant Patil, the biker, Shankar, died soon after his vehicle skidded and struck a road divider. Swamy, who survived, said he had managed to drag his friend's body away from the middle of the road but was unable to move the heavily damaged motorcycle.

The most damning revelation is the surveillance confirmation that the fallen bike and its distraught companion were ignored by multiple vehicles. Swamy told police that at least two other buses successfully swerved to avoid the bike before the ill-fated Kaveri Travels bus approached.

Overwhelmed with shock and fear, Swamy fled the scene just moments before the Kaveri Travels bus, allegedly traveling between 80-90 kmph, ran over the bike.

The bus, driven by Miriyala Lakshmaiah, dragged the vehicle for nearly 200 meters. The resulting friction, coupled with fuel leaking from the damaged bike, sparked the massive blaze that engulfed the sleeper coach, trapping and killing the sleeping passengers.

This new evidence fundamentally alters the focus of the police inquiry, moving it away from only reckless driving by the deceased biker who was said to have been intoxicated, and introducing several new dimensions of criminal and civil liability.

The focus on the bus driver, Lakshmaiah, shifts from merely causing an accident to gross negligence and a failure of spatial awareness. If the preceding vehicles could avoid the hazard, his high speed and lack of vigilance contributed directly to the disaster. Furthermore, reports that the driver failed to immediately stop the bus after feeling the impact, continuing to drag the bike, amplify the charge.

The fact that the bus was a commercial vehicle operating on the highway, and others avoided the obstacle, strengthens the case for corporate negligence against V. Kaveri Travels and its owner.

The authorities are already investigating the bus for illegal conversion to a sleeper coach, a non-functional emergency door, and the prohibited transport of cargo, including a large consignment of mobile phones, whose lithium batteries are suspected to have intensified the fire.

The fact that multiple drivers deliberately bypassed the scene of a clear emergency raises questions about highway conduct and the ethical obligation to render aid. While the initial biker's death was immediate, the actions of the passing drivers who failed to report the obstruction directly contributed to the severity of the subsequent bus tragedy.

Investigators may now look for legal avenues to address this lapse of civic duty, emphasising the systemic apathy on the national highway network.

The investigation is now prioritizing the sequence of events immediately before the bus impact, aiming to establish criminal negligence for all parties whose omissions, whether driving past an emergency or operating an unsafe vehicle, turned a minor roadside incident into a devastating tragedy.