Court to deliver verdict on Santosh Mane, Pune's 'berserk' driver

Mane, an employee of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), had hijacked an empty Pune-Satara-Pune bus at the Swargate ST depot at around 8:15 am on January 25, 2012, which he zoomed off with, hitting the city's roads.

As an employee of MSRTC, he had a valid license and a master-key to public buses.

According to eyewitnesses, Mane allegedly drove at breakneck speed, often on the wrong side of the road.

The madness on the road lasted nearly 25 kms during which he rammed stationary and moving vehicles en route and ran over pedestrians before being nabbed at the Dandekar Flyover near the Nilayam Talkies.

Mane had reportedly hit an electric pole first and then a divider which stalled the bus and facilitated the police in getting hold of him.

When the driver was produced in court, city lawyers refused to defend him, as a mark of public anger. They cited "humanitarian grounds" as the reason for their decision - a reference to the nine who were crushed to death under the wheels of the bus that Mane drove.

Lawyers, who later went on to represent the accused driver, contend that he was suffering from a psychiatric disease at the time of the incident.

Mane had been kept under observation for 10 days at a mental hospital under the court's direction following a recommendation from doctors at Pune's Sassoon Hospital after his arrest.

But a medical report submitted before the court later did not point towards any major psychiatric illness in the driver during his period of admission in the hospital.

So far, statements of 39 witnesses have been recorded in the case.