Chennai: Remember the visual of an MTC bus crashing through the Anna flyover parapet in 2012? For 12 years, the driver, D Prasad, bore the blame — accused of rash driving and using a mobile phone in a crash that injured 36 passengers.Last week, a city court acquitted him, finding no proof of negligence. The fault lay with MTC’s ageing, poorly maintained fleet.On June 27, 2012, Prasad, then operating Route 17M (Parrys Corner – Vadapalani), completed five trips and returned the bus to the Vadapalani depot, reporting it as faulty. Later, he was given a replacement bus that was also defective — with a damaged steering wheel and broken driver seat.While returning via Anna flyover around 1.30pm, the bus swerved and crashed into the parapet bringing down a 25ft stretch. Several passengers were thrown off balance and injured. Some said Prasad was using his phone. He was immediately suspended, and Pondy Bazaar Traffic Investigation Wing filed a case against him.“They never even checked the old log sheets that mentioned the bus was under repair,” said Prasad, who challenged his suspension in the city labour court. He was reinstated in 2016, but not before suffering a heart attack and falling into debt. “The worst pain was being labelled guilty without being heard,” he said.During the trial of the accident case, three key witnesses seated near the driver testified they heard a blast-like sound from the steering just before the crash. The court said this, along with prior reports of mechanical faults, cast serious doubt on the prosecution’s case. The motor vehicle inspector’s report didn’t rule out a fault either. The court also observed the flyover stretch didn’t allow high-speed driving.With no proof beyond reasonable doubt, Prasad was acquitted.But questions remain. “Why was no action taken against the Vadapalani depot officials who gave an unfit bus? Why did the motor vehicle inspector fail to document the defect before MTC got a chance to fix it post-crash,” asked S D Kamaraj, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Transport (Stop-Corruption) Employees Federation, which stood by Prasad through the case.