‘One has no licence, another on drugs’

One of the two buses, which crushed a teenage boy in Dhaka's Moghbazar area on January 20, was being driven by a helper who has no driving licence.

Monir Hossain (27) took the bus of Ajmery Glory Paribahan from the driver in Gulistan, sat behind the steering wheel and was heading to Gazipur.

Khandaker Al Moin, Rab's legal and media wing director, shared the information with reporters at a press conference yesterday, after arresting Monir and Md Imran (34), driver of another bus of the same company, from Dhaka's Paltan and Munshiganj areas on the same day. 

Facemask vendor Rakibul Hasan (14) was crushed to death between the two buses when Monir and Imran were driving recklessly and competing with each other at Moghbazar traffic signal on that day.

They fled after the incident.   

"Rakib was killed due to the bus drivers racing against each other," Moin said.

They drive recklessly and compete with each other to make as many trips as possible in a day, as they are employed on a daily basis, he added. 

The Rab officials said Monir arrived in the country three months back, after staying for five years in a Middle Eastern country, and started a job as a bus helper one and half months ago on a daily wage of Tk 500.

Though he has no driving licence, he used to drive the bus occasionally, he said.  

The other driver, Imran, has been driving buses for about 10 years but got his licence three years back.

He abuses drugs and was sued in a case under Narcotics Control Act with Daudkandi Police Station in Cumilla last year, Moin said.