TAXILA: The driver of an ill-fated bus that met an accident on the Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14) on Monday, claiming 12 lives and injuring 21, has been arrested after a four-day manhunt by the Fatehjang police.

According to a spokesperson for the police, the bus driver was identified as Tahir Mehmood, a resident of Rawalpindi.

He was the lone driver of the private passenger bus that overturned near Thatti Syedan in Fatehjang due to his alleged carelessness while heading towards Islamabad from Bahawalpur.

An Attock police spokesperson informed the media on Friday that the driver fled the scene after the tragic accident and was arrested through human and digital intelligence.

The Fatehjang police on the complaint of Inspector Tariq Abbas Khan of the Motorway Police had registered an FIR under Sections 322, 377-G, 279, 427 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) following the accident.

Those named in the case include bus driver Tahir Mehmood, the bus owner and a bus station manager.

According to the FIR, the motorway police official claimed that the long-route public transport vehicle should have had two drivers. Instead, the company deputed only one, causing the disaster.

The suspect was presented before a judicial magistrate in Fatehjang where police acquired his physical remand on Friday.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2025