Pending MV tax of minibus paid online within 4 hours after Samruddhi expressway crash: official

Mumbai: In less than four hours after a private minibus rammed into a truck on the Samruddhi expressway on Sunday resulting in the death of 12 people, its pending motor vehicle (MV) tax was found to be paid online, an RTO official has disclosed.

The MV tax of the minibus, registered at the Nashik Regional Transport Office, for the period between September 1 and 30 and October 1 and 31 was paid online at 4.13 AM (on October 15), less than four hours after the accident which occurred at around 12.30 pm in Vaijapur area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, the official said.

According to officials, the ill-fated minibus (MH 04 GP 2212) was carrying 35 passengers, almost double the permitted capacity of 18, without any valid permit at the time of the accident.

The minibus was registered at Nashik RTO on October 14, 2016.

"In more than five months, the RTO had not issued any permit to the minibus. The last permit issued was a 'special permit' dated April 20, 2023, which was valid between April 20 and 24 for Nashik- Garudeshwar journey," an official said.

Nashik RTO officer Pradeep Shinde confirmed to PTI that the MV tax of the minibus was paid a few hours after the accident and that the bus was plying without a valid permit at the time of the crash.

Prima facie, the speeding minibus headed towards Nashik hit a stationary container truck near Vaijapur at around 12:30 AM on Sunday, killing 12 people and injuring 23.

The truck was allegedly intercepted by an RTO team on the expressway. Police had registered a case against the truck driver Brijesh Kumar Chandel and two RTO officials, identified as Pradeep Rathod and Nitinkumar Gonarkar.

Notably, a private bus that caught fire on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway after ramming a divider and getting dragged on one side on July 1, leading to the deaths of 25 passengers, was issued a Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate nine hours after the horrific accident.

The bus operated by a private traveller was heading towards Pune from Nagpur when it rammed into a divider near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana district.

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, named Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is a 701-km-long expressway connecting Nagpur and Mumbai. The construction work is completed on the Nagpur- Igatpuri (Nashik district) stretch.