BEST bus horror: Video shows man stealing victim's valuables; theft case registered

MUMBAI: An unidentified person allegedly stole the gold jewellery of a woman under the pretext of helping her as she was fatally wounded in the BEST bus accident in Mumbai, police said on Thursday.

A viral video showed a man telling others that he was taking the woman's jewellery for safe custody and will inform her relatives about it.

Based on her family's complaint, police have registered a case of theft of her valuables, the police said.

Fatima Kaniz Ansari (55) was among the seven persons who died after being mowed down by the BEST bus in Kurla area here on Monday, they said.

Ansari, who worked as an attendant at a hospital, was hit by the speeding BEST bus when she was waiting outside a building on the S G Barve Marg, an official said.

She was found trapped under a car, the official said, adding the unidentified man took away her gold bangles and mobile phone while pretending to help her.

Ansari's relatives claimed her bangles were stolen by an unidentified person after her death while her mobile phone was returned.

The Mumbai police on Thursday registered a case against the unidentified culprit under sections 303 (theft) and 315 (dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by deceased person at the time of death) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.

A probe was on into the case, the police added.

The out-of-control electric bus operated by the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking rammed into pedestrians and vehicles at around 9.30 pm on Monday on the SG Barve Marg in Kurla (West).

Besides killing seven persons and injuring 42 others, including four policemen on ‘bandobast’ duty, the accident also wrecked 22 vehicles.

The bus driver has been arrested for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, according to police.