Bangalore : A BMTC bus driver has been arrested by the Chamarajpet Police for allegedly attempting to rape a girl in a bus, and pushing her down with the intention to kill. Following the incident, BMTC has suspended three employees, including the driver. The arrested driver has been identified as Siddartha A V (31) a resident of Chikkabidarakallu, near Peenya.

Siddaratha is alleged to have attempted to rape the girl, who was a passenger. The incident happened on March 13.

The 23-year-old victim, a Punjabi girl from Mumbai, got down at the City Railway Station from a train, and boarded a BMTC bus to Banashankari from Majestic. Siddartha was driver-cum-conductor of the bus deployed from Peenya depot. The girl was supposed to get down near Deve Gowda fuel station at Padmanabhanagar to go to her paying guest accommodation.

There were 30 other passengers in the bus when the girl got into it at Majestic. At around 11.50 pm, the bus reached Banashankari, which was the last stop.

After all the passengers got down, driver Siddartha noticed the girl remaining in the bus. She informed him that she has to go to Padmanabhanagar. Siddartha knows only Kannada, while the girl who doesn’t know Kannada was speaking to him in Hindi, police said.

“Something went wrong. Siddartha closed the doors of the bus and started heading towards Majestic. On the way, he attempted to rape the girl, but he failed. When the bus reached Ryan Circle, he pushed the girl out of the bus and escaped,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H S Revanna. Locals helped the injured girl, provided her with water, and alerted the police.

“We took the girl to a hospital and got her treated for her injuries. A medical test was done and doctors confirmed there was no sexual assault. So we have booked cases from attempt to rape, attempt to murder, and wrongful restraint of a girl against Siddartha,” Revanna said. “We took the details of the bus and caught Siddartha within two hours,” Revanna added.

The court has sent him to judicial custody for the next 15 days. The girl, however, has not filed a complaint so far. The police have taken a suo motu case against Siddartha.

Anjum Parvez, MD of BMTC, said that an order was issued in December 2013 that a single person should not play the dual conductor-driver role. “Since the order has been violated, Puttaraju, the traffic inspector of Peenya, and Paramashivaiah, the traffic controller of Kempegowda bus station, have been suspended along with Siddartha,” he said.

Siddaratha was earlier accused of misbehaving with a woman passenger in a BMTC bus in 2012, police said.