Pune:

The fire on a private firm’s minibus that killed four employees near Pune was allegedly an act of sabotage by a vengeful driver who had a dispute with some staffers and was also upset over a pay cut, police said on Thursday.

“Investigation revealed that the fire was not an accident but sabotage,” deputy commissioner of police Vishal Gaikwad of Pimpri Chinchwad Police told PTI.

Janardan Hambardekar, the accused driver, had a dispute with some of the employees and wanted to take revenge, the official said. The driver was also disgruntled due to a salary cut, he said.

The employees against whom he held a grudge were not among the four who died, the DCP said.

The incident took place in the Hinjawadi area near Pune city on Wednesday morning as the bus, owned by Vyoma Graphics and carrying 14 of its employees to the workplace, caught fire.

“The accused had procured benzene (a highly inflammable chemical). He had also kept a cloth used to wipe toners in the bus. On Thursday, as the bus neared Hinjawadi, he lit a match and set the cloth on fire,” said the DCP.

The accused jumped off the moving bus, which then continued about a hundred metres before coming to a halt, the official said. Hambardekar had already suffered burns before he got out, as per the probe.

The driver was undergoing treatment at a hospital and will be arrested later, the police official said.

Four of the employees – Shankar Shinde (63), Rajan Chavan (42), Gurudas Lokare (45) and Subhash Bhosale (44) – died as they were sitting in the rear and could not open the emergency exit door in time. Besides, six passengers sustained burn injuries.

Further probe was on, the DCP added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)