Cuttack: The Cuttack Road Transport Officer (RTO) Dipti Ranjan Patra on Tuesday filed an FIR at Lalbag Police Station here against Tapan Mohanty, the owner of the bus,which met with an accident in Deogarh district on Sunday evening killing 27 members of the Bharati Gananatya theatre group, for running the vehicle without fitness certificate and permit.
During verification, it was found out that Mohanty had sold out the bus to Altaf Hussain of Bargarh district in March 23, 2013, sources said.
The RTO has informed that no documents or records of the sale of the vehicle are available with the Transport department.
“As per available documents, it is found that the bus owner has not paid taxes since 2014 and the bus has no insurance. As the owner of the vehicle was running it without any valid documents, we have filed a case against him at Lalbag police station,” the RTO said.
“I also got to know from my sources that Mohanty had sold off the bus to Altaf Hussain. But he has not informed me about this. So I have recommended to Lalbag IIC to take action against Mohanty,” Patra informed.
Meanwhile,the health condition of the seriously injured patients are stated to be stable, according to hospital sources. While three out of the 11 injured have been discharged from hospital, two are undergoing treatment in the ICU.
Notably, 27 members of Bharati Gananatya were killed and 11 injured when the bus in which they were travelling met with an accident and fell into a 300-ft gorge off the Gailo ghat in Deogarh district on Sunday evening.