The deceased was Amol Shamu Bajantri, a native of Utangi village in Jat taluka of Sangli district. A case has been registered on the complaint of Mahesh Maruti Bajantri (22) at the Swargate police station. According to the police, Amol is Mahesh’s nephew.

The Swargate police have arrested two ST bus drivers on charges of negligent driving. They are Madhukar Tukaram Dikshit (50) of Shirwal, Satara district, and Sahebrao Tulshiram Zende (52) of MHADA Colony, Punawdi in Baramati.

Police officers said Amol had come to the Swargate ST bus depot with her mother Lalita Shamu Bajantri, sister Dhanashri (7) and brother Hrushikesh (4) who were to board a Pune-Bijapur bus to go to their native place in Sangli district.

The officers said as the bus was moving towards platform number 6 inside the bus depot, the Bajantri family rushed towards the bus, along with other commuters, trying to get in. A bus from Baramati was also coming towards the same direction, said the police, adding that the two buses came so close to each other that the boy who was standing between the two vehicles was crushed. Police said Amol received severe head injuries and died on the spot. Assistant police inspector Y G Kadam is investigating the case.

On Thursday last week, Pune Newsline had highlighted the pathetic state of crowd control and security system at the ST depots during the Diwali rush.

Police said the Swargate bus depot was more crowded on Sunday due to the festival rush and the ST administration failed to properly manage the crowd.

Vijaykumar Divte, Swargate Depot Manager, said an additional 250 buses operated from the bus station on Sunday besides the regular traffic of 1,650 buses. “An immediate help of Rs 5,000 has been handed over to the victim’s family for performing the last rites. An additional compensation of Rs 1 lakh will be given to the family in a few days,” said Diwate.