Mawa expressway accident: Bus owner sent to jail, driver confesses

A Dhaka court on Sunday sent W Bepari, owner of the bus that rammed a car, motorcycle and a microbus at Dhaleshwari toll plaza on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway on December 27, causing death to six people, to jail.

Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Sheikh Muzahidul Islam passed the order as police produced W Bepari, owner of Bepari Paribahan, before the court and pleaded to keep him behind the bars till the end of probe. The same court earlier sent killer driver of the bus Md Nuruddin to jail after recording his statement under section 164, reports BSS.

In his statement, driver Md Nuruddin said, "The car was in the garage for seven days before the incident. There was a problem with the car's brakes and clutch plates. Parvez, son of the car's owner W Bepari, pressured me to take the car out on the road in this condition."

"Parvez told me that it would be fine if I drove the car. Under his pressure, I took the car out on Friday. There were 60 passengers in the car. The speed of the car was 55 kilometers before going to the Dhaleshwari Toll Plaza. I tried many times to control the car before entering the toll plaza, but I could not control it," he said.

He continued the car's brakes had failed, even after trying to reduce the speed, it could not be controlled.

"Later, the car crashed at the toll plaza. I got out of the car and fled," he said.

Nuruddin was arrested from Siddhirganj area on December 27, while W Bepari was arrested from Madaripur the next day.

"The accident occurred as the speedy bus rammed the other vehicles as those were waiting in line to pay the toll at Dhaleswari toll plaza on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway. The bus rammed the car first, then a motorcycle and the microbus at the end at 11 am. The car became almost a pile of metal in the accident," said Hasara Highway Police Station officer-in-charge Abdul Quader Jilani.

Six people were killed and 10 others injured in the incident.

The deceased were- Amena Akter, 45, of Nandankona village under Sirajdikhan upazila of Munshiganj district, her daughters Israt Jahan, 26, and Ria Moni, 11, and Israt's son Aiyaj Hossain, 2, and Md Abdullah, 7, and Reshma Akter, 28, son and wife respectively of Sumon Hossain of capital's Hatirjheel area.

Victim Amena's brother Md Nurul Amin filed the case with South Keraniganj Police Station on December 28.