Car driver takes bus keys, strands passengers at Murthal toll plaza
In a scene that could easily be mistaken for a plot twist in a quirky comedy, a car driver at the Murthal toll plaza decided that if he couldn’t get his way, neither could the bus passengers. In a bizarre incident on Friday night, the driver of a private car snatched the keys from an HRTC bus (HP-67-8084) travelling from Vrindavan to Hamirpur and took off – not just down the road but all the way to Bathinda.
It all started around 8:45 PM when the bus made a regular stop at the toll plaza. What happened next was anything but regular. Upset about not receiving a pass, the car driver approached the bus and, in a move that left everyone bewildered, grabbed the keys right out of the bus driver’s hands. With his point made, he promptly drove away – leaving the bus full of passengers stranded.
As the passengers looked on in disbelief and the bus sat immobile at the plaza, the driver and conductor scrambled to contact HRTC authorities. Soon, the higher-ups in Delhi were informed, and the hunt for the runaway car began. Passengers, meanwhile, were redirected to other corporation buses, but the bus itself remained locked in its impromptu parking spot.
By the time the police tracked the car’s whereabouts, the driver had already made it to Bathinda, nearly 200 kilometers away. Responding to the situation, Haryana Police ordered him to return with the bus keys — which he eventually did, showing up at the police station on Saturday afternoon to hand over the stolen keys.
As if the story wasn’t strange enough, the driver was slapped with a Rs 30,000 fine by the HRTC for his unplanned joyride. Instead of registering a case, HRTC opted to settle the matter on the spot by collecting the fine.
Rajkumar Pathak, Divisional Manager of the HRTC Hamirpur Division, confirmed the details of the peculiar incident. “A car driver took the keys of our moving bus, stranded it at the toll plaza, and drove off to Bathinda with them. After paying a fine of Rs 30,000, the issue has been resolved.”
While the passengers eventually made it to their destinations, the strange journey of the missing bus keys from Murthal to Bathinda is sure to be a tale that lingers — one that left both passengers and HRTC officials scratching their heads over this unusual form of ‘bus hijacking.’
