Gurgaon: A trainee driver allegedly took a Haryana Roadways bus without permission during a lunch break and drove into pedestrians near the Sector 37 industrial area on Friday afternoon, killing a 56-year-old man and injuring one other.The deceased, Ravi Shankar, was a factory worker from Satna, Madhya Pradesh, residing in Sector 37. Police said he was out on a post-lunch walk with coworkers when the bus bore down on them. Many escaped by jumping aside.Locals rushed the injured to a nearby hospital, where Shankar was declared dead on arrival. The other person, who was yet to be identified, is undergoing treatment. An FIR has been registered under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.The vehicle, from the Sector 12 depot, eventually struck a parked car and ground to a halt before nearly hitting a loading tempo.Eyewitnesses said bystanders shouted at the driver to stop and pelted the bus with stones. The accused, identified as 25-year-old Bharat, then drove the bus back to the training ground near Leisure Valley Park and quietly parked it before fleeing. His phone remained switched off, roadways officers said. Police seized the bus after reaching the spot.The bus had left the depot around 10.30am as part of a month-long training programme for new drivers, conducted under the supervision of inspector Vidyanand and comprising 15-16 trainees. The batch was seven days from completing the course, which began around May 18.“The trainees were having lunch during the afternoon break at around 1.30pm when Bharat allegedly took the bus and drove away without informing the instructors. No one else was inside the vehicle,” a training officer said.Officials said the depot raised the alarm after noticing a bus was missing, and later established it was the same vehicle involved in the accident.“Statements of roadways officials and witnesses are being recorded. The postmortem of the deceased will be conducted on Saturday,” a senior police officer said.
