Kurnool: The driver of the luxury sleeper bus involved in the devastating accident that claimed 19 lives in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district has been arrested, the police said on Sunday.

It has also come to light that Miriyala Lakshmaiah secured his heavy vehicle driving licence using forged educational certificates. Investigators revealed that Lakshmaiah had studied only up to Class 5 but obtained a transport vehicle licence by submitting fake Class 10 documents.

Current licensing regulations require those applying for commercial or heavy vehicle licences to have studied up to at least Class 8. These rules are often flouted through the use of counterfeit documents. Such flouting of rules have led to safety concerns with the number of accidents involving heavy vehicles going up steadily.

The accident occurred in the early hours of Friday at Chinna Tekuru village in the Kurnool district, when the bus ran over a two-wheeler that had already met with an accident. The impact dragged the motorbike underneath the vehicle, causing its fuel tank to burst and ignite a massive fire that engulfed the bus.

At least 19 passengers were killed, and several others were injured. Of the 44 people on board, many managed to escape before the flames spread.

The Andhra Pradesh Police confirmed that the two men on the motorcycle, Siva Shankar and Erri Swamy, were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

‘We have received forensic confirmation that the two bike-borne persons were drunk,’ Kurnool Range deputy inspector general (DIG) of Police Koya Praveen, said.

Shankar and Swamy had dined at a dhaba and consumed liquor. The duo set out on their two-wheeler from Lakshmipuram village around 2 am on October 24, with plans to drop Swamy at Tuggali village.

Footage from a petrol station showed the men stopping to refuel at 2.24 am. In the video, Shankar could be seen riding rashly, moments before tragedy struck.

Soon after leaving the petrol pump, the two-wheeler skidded, causing Shankar to fall and hit a divider. He died on the spot, while the out-of-control bike came under the path of the approaching bus, triggering the accident.

Questions have also been raised on why the driver of the bus ran over as large a thing as a motorcycle which he should have spotted as the headlights were on. He may have taken evasive action has he been alert, many believe.