Noida: Three weeks after a bus operated by Raj Kalpana Travels caught fire near Jewar on Yamuna Expressway, killing nine passengers, the operator has resumed services with little visible disruption. A ground check found some buses carrying items on their roofs, and the company continues to function through three offices across Delhi-NCR.On Oct 16, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Hrishikesh Pandey in GB Nagar rejected the bail application of accused Vikas Kumar, citing the seriousness of the offences. The four men arrested in connection with the fire remain in judicial custody.On Sunday evening, three staff members sat across the reception table at the operator’s office near Akshardham, checking bookings and coordinating bus departures. Passengers waited inside the small office and on the staircase outside.“It was closed for a week. We did not operate any buses, but then it is a business and we came back on the road,” said Vinay Kumar, a staff member at the office.Outside, buses stood ready for their journeys, with parcels stacked on their roofs. Asked about them, manager Satyaprakash Sharma said these belonged to parcel companies whose consignments the operator was transporting.Assistant regional transport officer (ARTO) Abhishek Kanaujia said an audit of buses had been conducted following the Jewar incident and that around 10-15 buses belonging to the company had been seized. On the roof-top parcels, he said: “Carrying any luggage on top of the bus is not allowed. However, this comes under the GST department. Since this information has come to us, we will alert the officials and ask them to look into it.”Sharma said the operator had introduced several measures after the incident, including inspecting buses, restoring emergency hammers in passenger cabins, installing sirens and removing curtains from the vehicles.“We now check four times the emergency exits and have also begun briefing people before the journey on how to use chargers and plug laptops into charging cables,” he said.He added that at least one staff member remains awake throughout the journey to monitor the bus. “The company has also stopped picking up passengers en route and now allows only those with confirmed bookings to board,” he said.“Our bus is a 35-seater,” Sharma said, adding that drivers and conductors had been instructed not to smoke. “What else can we do?” he said.The owner of Raj Kalpana Travels could not be reached for comment despite multiple calls.According to Sharma, the company began operations in 2018 and has around 3,000 workers, with a fleet of 104 buses operating across north India, particularly in UP, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Its three Delhi-NCR offices are at Kashmere Gate, Akshardham and Pari Chowk in Greater Noida. It serves destinations including Chitrakoot, Varanasi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Ujjain and Haridwar, he said.Despite the tragedy, some passengers said they continued to trust the operator, citing their regular travel experience and the services provided on board. Piyush Kumar, who was travelling to Mau, was one of them.“Incidents happen, but that does not mean our safety is compromised. I have been travelling by these buses for the last three years, twice a month. They have toilets and the staff is nice,” he said.Following the deaths, an FIR was registered at Jewar police station against unidentified men. The bus, bearing registration number BR32PA8647, had around 30-35 passengers on board. At approximately 11.30pm, when it reached kilometre 33 of Yamuna Expressway on the Noida-to-Agra carriageway, passengers began noticing a burning smell near the driver’s cabin.The complainant, Sunil Kumar, alleged that passengers alerted the driver and conductor, but the driver did not stop the bus to investigate. The FIR further alleged that the two continued smoking in the cabin and ignored repeated requests from passengers to stop.Jewar station house officer Ajay Kumar Singh told TOI that the four men in custody include two drivers, a conductor and a manager, and that police were recording passengers’ statements.“We have recorded statements of nearly 15 people by now and a few of them are still left. We will proceed once the statements of all those travelling are in,” the SHO said.The bail order noted the allegation that the accused had failed to stop the bus despite passengers noticing a burning smell. The prosecution argued that the alleged gross negligence and reckless conduct had resulted in the deaths of nine passengers. The court observed that the offences were serious and non-bailable and that sufficient grounds for granting bail had not been established. It also recorded that bail in connection with other charges triable by a sessions court had previously been rejected.The order stated that sections 324(5) and 127(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act, had been added during the investigation.Advocate Chhatrapal Singh, representing the accused, questioned the addition of these provisions.“We have been saying from the beginning that this was a case of negligence, but adding sections 324(5) (mischief causing damage) and 127(2) (wrongful confinement) seems unfair. We will move for bail on Thursday,” Chhatrapal Singh said.He said that when the defence objected to the addition of the sections, the judge told them to allow the investigation to conclude and said the issue could be looked into thereafter. He also claimed that the fire was caused by a short circuit and alleged that the action taken against the accused was excessive.“It feels as though the govt wants to ensure that we suffer. One of those arrested, Vikas, had simply gone to submit vehicle-related documents when he was arrested by the police,” he said.“We understand that nine people have died, but in this way, we are killing the families of the other four people too,” he said.
