The driver and supervisor of a bus who were said to be killed in Savar after allegedly being beaten by passengers due to a dispute over extra fare actually died in an accident involving another bus, said the police.
Sohel Rana, 26, driver of the Itihash Paribahan bus, and Hridoy, 30, conductor of the bus were killed after passengers beat them over a fare dispute on Monday (8 April), claimed the helper of the bus, Abdur Rahman.
However, the police investigation has revealed Abdur Rahman made up the story to save himself.
Analysing CCTV footage of the incident, the Itihash Transport was seen standing on the lane of the Nabinagar-Chandra bound highway in the DEPZ area of Ashulia for some time.
Sometime later, another bus was seen passing by next to the Itihash Paribahan bus, and then a crowd of people were seen surrounding the bus gate around two injured people, they were rescued and taken to the hospital.
After investigation, it is known that the injured driver Sohel Rana and the supervisor Hridoy, died while undergoing treatment after being taken to the hospital.
Helper Abdur Rahman claimed that the passengers beat them up and injured them due to a dispute over the extra fare.
But he had run away from the scene following the incident.
Meanwhile, the police found the matter suspicious based on the initial investigation of the victims’ injury marks, CCTV footage and eyewitness statements.
Upon quizzing, he said, there was an argument with the passengers during the incident.
“Driver Sohel Rana asked me to drive and came to the bus gate himself to solve the problem. At that time another bus passed by the gate and hit them both. They fell on the road. I ran out of the bus window in fear. After a while, I came back and took them to the hospital along with many others,” Abdur Rahman told police.
In this regard, Dhaka District Additional Superintendent of Police Abdullahil Kafi said, “Abdur Rahman made up the story about conflict with the passengers to save himself. However, the hole in this statement made police suspicious. The victims also did not have any injury mark consistent with the story of being beaten.”
“Later we got an eyewitness who told us that two people were crushed between two buses. When the highway police went to remove the bus from the road, they did not get any statement about any beating,” he added.
The police official further said, “At the time of the incident, Abdur Rahman was driving the bus himself. When another bus was going ahead, he pushed the bus he was driving to the left to compete to be ahead. Then the Sohel and Hridoy were crushed between the two buses.”
