After shock comes shame: Video shows man stealing bangles from bus crash victim's body

Mumbai, Dec 12 (PTI) As Mumbai comes to term with the bus tragedy in Kurla, a shocking video has surfaced showing an unidentified man wearing helmet stealing gold jewellery from the body of a woman killed in the accident four days ago.

The video showed the man telling others standing nearby he was removing the woman's gold bangles for "safe custody" and will inform her relatives about it.

As the clip went viral and added to the shock of the tragedy, police stepped in and on Thursday registered a case against the unidentified person and launched a search for him.

The deceased woman was identified as Fatima Kaniz Ansari (55) and she was among seven persons who were killed after an out-of-control electric bus of Mumbai's civic transport body BEST rammed into pedestrians and vehicles on S G Barve Marg in suburban Kurla (West) on Monday night.

The police registered an FIR after her relatives lodged a complaint about theft of her gold bangles, an official said.

The police registered the case against the unidentified man under sections 303 (theft) and 315 (dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by deceased person at the time of death) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), he said.

Ansari, who worked as an attendant at a hospital, was hit by the speeding BEST bus when she was waiting outside a building, the official said.

She was found trapped under a car, the official said, adding the unidentified man wearing a helmet took away her gold bangles and mobile phone while pretending to help her.

Ansari's relatives claimed her bangles were stolen, but they got back her mobile phone and a bag she was carrying at the time of the accident.

To add to the grieving family's woes, her daughter, Mehrunnisa, while speaking to media on Tuesday, claimed earrings of her mother were there when she was taken to hospital, but they were missing when the body was brought out and taken to another medical facility for post-mortem.

Medical Superintendent of Bhabha Hospital Padmashree Ahire had said "Family members of Kaniz Ansari had brought the incident (of theft of ornaments from her body) to their notice and they were verifying CCTV footage of the hospital to ascertain the facts and will take appropriate action in the matter." A probe was on into the case, the official said.

Ansari, who is survived by two sons, was the only earning person in her family. She lost her husband long back.

The ill-fated bus operated by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking rammed into pedestrians and vehicles at around 9.30 pm. Besides killing seven persons and injuring 42 others, including four policemen on 'bandobast' duty, the accident also wrecked 22 vehicles.

The bus driver, Sanjay More, has been arrested and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Meanwhile, BEST bus services from Kurla (West), the area where the crash took place, remained suspended for the third day on Thursday. PTI DC GK RSY