KARACHI, March 20: The driver of the bus, which killed two girl students and a motorcyclist and injured nine others at Karimabad on Tuesday, was arrested on Wednesday morning.

Some youths gathered at the Karimabad intersection and protested against the reckless driving by the public transport drivers. They raised slogans against the traffic police and the city government for their failure to rein in the public transport drivers and demanded stern action against the errant driver, responsible for the fatal accident. They appealed to the government to take drastic steps to improve the traffic management system. Later, they dispersed peacefully.

The police said the bus driver, Mohammad Munawar, and the owner of the bus, Mohammad Ibrahim, were arrested. A case of murder under section 302 has been registered against the driver.

A recklessly-driven bus had crushed two girl students and a motorcyclist to death and injured nine others near APWA Government College at Karimabad on Tuesday. The bus driver had fled.

Eyewitnesses said the bus of route 5-C (JA-5983) was racing with a Hyderabad-bound bus while descending the Liaquatabad flyover. The 5-C bus ran into a group of girl students standing on the roadside. This resulted into injuries to 11 girl students, who had been taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where two of them were pronounced dead on arrival.

The bus also knocked down a motorcyclist, running ahead of the bus. He suffered a serious head injury and later died.

A senior traffic police officer, trying to cover up negligence on the part of the driver, disputed the version of the eyewitnesses that the 5-C bus was trying to overtake another bus from the wrong side. Claiming that two buses could not run alongside on the narrowed ramp while descending the flyover, he said the accident took place as the bus went out of the driver’s control. He also claimed: “The Motor Vehicle Inspector has examined the vehicle and he has reached the conclusion that the incident occurred owing to failure of brakes.”

To another question whether the examination of the vehicle was conducted on the spot or it was carried out after the bus had been removed, the police officer said: “The bus, responsible for the accident, was immediately removed from the place of incident, and its examination was carried out at the police station.”

Some insiders in the police department also disputed the timing of the arrest of the driver. They said the driver was apprehended soon after the accident on the spot and handed over to the traffic police officials, who let him off.

They said the police had registered a murder case (302 of the PPC) under public pressure. However, the police obliged the transporters by issuing the MVI’s bus examination report declaring the cause of the accident as the failure of brakes, which would also weaken the case in a court.

The source said the transporters connived with the traffic and district police officials and on the assurance from the police that the driver would not get the capital punishment or life sentence and he would be released on bail very soon, the transport organization handed over the driver to the police.

Karachi Transport Ittehad Chief Irshad Bokhari in a statement said the KTI helped police arrest the absconding driver. He said the MVI report suggested that the accident took place due to brake failure but the overspeeding by the driver could not be ruled out.

The sources said the driver responsible for the fatal accident was bound to give Rs370,000 as Qisas to the heirs of each of the deceased. In this particular case, if it was established that the accident occurred due to brakes failure, the driver would be exempted from paying the Qisas and the case would be converted into section 319 of the PPC from the section 302 of the PPC. The section 302 relates to intentional murder and the section 319 relates to unintentional murder or accidental death.