Toll plaza tragedy: Bepari Paribahan bus owner arrested
W Bepari was accused in a case filed by Nurul Amin, brother of Amena Begum who was among the six killed in the incident
The Highway Police have arrested W Bepari, owner of the Bepari Paribahan bus which was involved in the recent accident at the Dhaleshwari Toll Plaza on the Dhaka-Mawa expressway, leaving six people dead.
He was named as a defendant in a case filed at the South Keraniganj Police Station by Nurul Amin, brother of Amena Begum, one of the deceased.
Bepari was arrested at around 12:30am today (29 December) from Madaripur's Shibchar, said AKM Akhtaruzzaman Bosunia, superintendent of police for the Highway Police's Gazipur region, at a press conference held at Hashara Highway Police Station in Munshiganj today.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
During the press conference, he also said the bus, unfit for operation, was taken out of the garage the day before the accident.
Akhtaruzzaman said the bus driver's licence had also expired.
On Friday night (27 December), RAB and Highway Police arrested the bus driver Nurunnabi and another individual from Narayanganj's Siddhirganj.
"Nurunnabi, who has been driving buses, trucks, and pickups for the past 10 years, has had no valid driving licence for the last two years," Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Tapas Karmakar of RAB-10 told The Business Standard yesterday (28 December).
He also said the Bepari Paribahan bus, which runs on the Dhaka-Kuakata route, has no fitness certificate either.
The driver claimed he tried to slow down and stop the bus as it approached the toll plaza, but the brakes did not work, said the RAB official.
Asked whether the driver was intoxicated when he was driving the bus, Tapas said Nurunnabi admitted to occasionally drinking or smoking marijuana but claimed he was not under the influence of drugs at the time.
The incident occurred at 11:06am Friday. CCTV camera footage showed the Bepari Paribahan bus struck the car first, crushing it entirely. The bus then rear-ended the microbus and ran over the motorcycle, crushing it as well.
Three victims, including a child, were killed on the spot. The other three succumbed to their injuries while being transported to Dhaka for treatment and at the hospital.
