INDORE: More than two years after 15 ill-fated passengers were charred to death by an enraged bus-driver over a petty dispute, the Barwani district court awarded the death sentence to the driver, the bus conductor as well as the cleaner, and life sentence to the bus owner on Friday.

The horrifying crime took place on August 22, 2011, when the driver, Tarun Sharma, got into a quarrel with the driver of another bus over carrying passengers in Sendhwa district of Madhya Pradesh. When the bus owned by Sai Kripa Travels left with the passengers that Tarun Sharma claimed were his, he along with the conductor, Dilip Soni, and cleaner, Rajkumar Kushwaha, followed the bus, stopped it, and poured gasoline over it before setting it afire. The Sai Kripa bus was filled with passengers and many didn't have the time to escape.

While 20 passengers managed to get out with severe burns and other injuries after smashing the windows and jumping out, 15 were charred to death, some of them beyond recognition. The Barwani district court also awarded life imprisonment to the bus owner Naresh Doshi, besides imposing a fine of Rs 62 lakh on him in its 118-page judgment.

Public prosecutor Rajesh Gothwal told TOI over phone from Barwani that the penalty will be distributed among the relatives of those dead and injured. According to judge Devendra Solanki , the relatives of those killed must be given Rs 3 lakh each and the injured Rs 50,000 each.

Defence counsel K S Sheikh said the court rejected his plea about mercy to convicts on basis of their age who are in their early 20s, and said it was a heinous crime in which innocent people were killed. The bus owner was held guilty for operating the passenger bus without permit, and held guilty. A total of 58 witnesses were produced and most testified against the four convicts.

Solanki added that the court had found the driver, conductor and cleaner guilty under section 435 (burning), 307 (attempt to murder), 302 (murder) and 120 (conspiracy) of IPC while bus-owner was pronounced guilty under sections 302 and 120. Police presented 340-page charge-sheet before court and 58 witnesses. More than 15 out of them were eyewitnesses.

