A court here held Maharashtra State Transport bus driver Santosh Mane, who killed nine people and injured 37 after hijacking a State transport bus on January 25, 2012, guilty of murder. The court dismissed the defence’s argument that Mane was mentally ill.
Additional Sessions Judge V.K. Shevale said the evidence proved beyond doubt that Mane was aware of what he was doing and yet went ahead with it.
Mane has been charged under Sections 302 and 307 (for attempt to murder); Section 324 (for voluntarily causing hurt); Section 427 (for causing damage to property) and Section 381 (for theft of public property).
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According to Justice Shevale, one of the strongest points of the case was the admission of Dr. Dilip Burte, Mane’s psychiatrist, who said he visited him only once and not multiple times as his lawyer Dhananjay Mane had claimed. In addition to that, evidence revealed that the defence presented falsified claims of the treatment period that clashed with Mane’s leaves. The absence of family members testifying that Mane was not of unsound mind also weakened the case, Justice Shevale said.