Driver Birendra Behera of the bus that skidded off a bridge near Puruna Manitri near Athmallik in Angul district on Friday killing 19 persons was sent to jail on Monday after rejection of his bail plea by the Athmallik SDJM court.
Notably, Behera, who was absconding after the accident, had been nabbed by a police team from near the Athmallik College on Sunday while he was travelling by a bike on the Athmallik-Sambalpur road.
The driver has confessed that he was absentminded as he was speaking on his mobile phone at the time of the accident, said Angul ASP Pradip Mishra. After the incident, he had left for Boudh and had perhaps come to Athmallik to consult a lawyer, the ASP added. Police have registered an FIR against him at the Athmallik police station.
The bus ‘Maharaja’ carrying around 70 passengers from Boudh to Athmallik had plunged into a dry riverbed from the bridge, about 3 km from the Athmallik bus-stand.