KURNOOL: The Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) report has confirmed that the biker, identified as Shivashankar, was drunk and primarily responsible for triggering the Kurnool bus fire, which claimed 20 lives.
According to the forensic report, alcohol traces were found in the viscera samples of Shivashankar, establishing the fact that he was in an inebriated condition while riding the bike.
The police had earlier found that the bike had met with an accident, before the arrival of the bus, causing the death of rider Shiva Shankar. The police have now concluded, based on the viscera sample of the rider, that the accident was caused by drunk driving.
Kurnool SP Vikrant Patil said Shivashankar lost control of his bike, and it hit the road divider. He died instantaneously in the incident. A complaint lodged by his friend Yerriswami, the pillion rider who survived, led to the registration of a new case under Sections 281, 125(A) and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Yerriswami had admitted that they both consumed liquor.
Two other buses that passed the same route avoided the fallen bike, but the Kaveri Travels bus hit it at a high speed, causing sparks that led to the massive fire. Earlier, the police had registered an FIR naming the Kaveri Travels bus driver (A1) and owner (A2) for negligence under the same Sections of BNS, based on a complaint lodged by passenger Ramesh.
Apart from this, the preliminary inquiry of the Excise department has revealed that the biker purchased liquor from Renuka Yellamma Wines, a licensed retail outlet, located at Peddatekur village in Kurnool district. The CCTV camera footage clearly showed that the person purchased liquor from the shop twice, at 7 pm and 8.25 pm on Thursday. The outlet is situated more than 240 metres away from the National Highway, and in full compliance with the Supreme Court orders, and the Excise norms.
Excise Commissioner Sridhar said the Kurnool District Prohibition & Excise Officer would submit a report on the liquor purchases made by the biker to the government. The state government strongly disapproves of misleading news reports that create confusion among the public, and it assures citizens that strict measures are in place to ensure lawful sale and consumption of liquor, he said.
Meanwhile, DNA tests were completed, enabling the district officials to identify the charred bodies. Kurnool district Collector A Siri and SP Vikrant Patil personally oversaw the process of handing over the bodies of the 17 victims to their families on Sunday. The collector said the families of the deceased were provided with the copies of DNA, inquest and FIR reports. Ambulances with freezer boxes were arranged to shift the bodies of the victims to their native places. Responding to the request of the family members of Amrit Kumar, a victim who hailed from Bihar, arrangements were made to perform his last rites in Kurnool itself with the help of civic authorities, the collector said.
Vikrant Patil said the family members of a Chittoor-based granite trader P Trimurthy approached them, suspecting that he might be the unidentified victim in the bus fire. “We have collected their DNA samples. The samples of the unidentified victim, and the Chittoor family have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory at Mangalagiri for analysis. If the DNA reports of the samples match, we will hand over the body to his family members on Monday,” the SP said.
