Pune rogue bus driver, Santosh Mane sentenced to death

A Pune sessions court Monday awarded death sentence to Santosh Mane, a state transport bus driver who sped through busy city roads in January last year and ran over eight people, a lawyer said.

“Santosh Mane was found guilty of murder, attempt to murder and damage to public property. He has been sentenced to death by Additional Sessions Judge V.K. Shevale,” defence lawyer Dhananjay Mane told IANS.

The court last week held the driver guilty of the crime.

Indicating that the killer driver was not insane, the court observed that he mowed down only people and did not ram the vehicle into other objects.

In response to the plea filed by Santosh Mane’s lawyer that he was under the influence of black magic, Judge V.K. Shevale said the claim did not come under hallucination.

The court observed that the claim could not also be classified as having any psychiatric symptom or disorder.

The defence lawyer, however, contended that the driver’s medical reports were ignored and that he would now appeal in the high court.

Santosh Mane sped his vehicle through busy roads Jan 25 last year knocking down pedestrians, motorists and vehicles and killing eight people and injuring another 29.

The court held the driver responsible for the deaths of eight victims and held him guilty of murder, rash driving, attempt to murder and other charges. Photo  : AFP