‘Crazy’: Youth drives away with city bus; held at Udupi

Team Udayavani, Oct 6, 2019, 4:56 PM IST

Udupi: There are those who steal bikes, cars and auto rickshaws and then there are those who steal purse, jewellery from a bus full of passengers. But here is an idiot, who single-handedly stole a bus.

A youth identified as Nifaz stole a city bus with route number 44C belonging to Ashraf from Ullal and drove it all the way from Ullal to Udupi, a total distance of 90 km. but unfortunately, his good luck came to an end there. A person who noticed the Mangaluru city bus proceeding without passengers towards Udupi got suspicious and managed to stopped the bus. He then called an acquaintance of his in Ullal to relay the information only after which it was realized that the bus in fact had been stolen.

Incident synopsis

On Saturday night at around 11 pm, the driver of the bus route number 44C with the name A R Travels which plies between Ullal and State bank had parked it at its usual spot and left after having filled the vehicles diesel tank. On Sunday morning, the bus cleaner arrived at 6 am in the morning to clean the bus when to his shock, there was no bus there.

Only half-an-hour remained for the bus to start its daily trip and yet there was no sign of the bus. Hence the scared cleaner immediately informed the bus owner Ashraf of the situation who in turn immediately informed Ullal police as well as his friends.

While all the commotion was occurring in Ullal, the bus in question had crossed Mangaluru and was proceeding quietly towards Udupi!

The youth who was driving the bus soon crossed Udupi by 10 km when someone along the road side got curious of the fact why a Mangaluru city bus had arrived till here, that to without passengers.  He immediately informed of the situation to an acquaintance in Mangaluru and meanwhile stopped the bus. By then, the news that a city bus from Ullal had gone missing spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, the youth who drove the bus has been handed over to Udupi police and the bus has been seized.  According to the information provided by Ashraf, Udupi police have informed of the situation to Ullal police and presently, Ullal police and the owner of the bus are on their way to take custody of the accused as well as the stolen vehicle.

Amidst all the confusion, everyone privy of the incident are wondering why Nifaz, who was working at a service station in Ullal had stolen the vehicle, where was he proceeding and what exactly was his purpose? But, all the doubts will be cleared only after police investigation.

It may be noted that the accused did not stop the bus while passing through the two toll gates located between Mangaluru-Udupi because of which, the glass of the bus has been damaged.