Alipore Court lawyer arrested over death of senior citizen, granted bail

Kolkata: A lawyer of Alipore Court has been arrested in connection with the death of Ramesh Behl (65), who reportedly died after falling down on the pavement after the accused slapped him on Thursday.

The accused person, identified as Tarit Sikdar, surrendered himself at the Bhowanipore police station on Monday and was arrested subsequently.

According to sources, on Sunday night police went to his house at Bakul Bagan in Bhowanipore, but Sikdar was not at home. After police left, his family members informed him about the development. Later on Monday morning, he along with some lawyers of Alipore Court went to Bhownaipore police station.

On Thursday, Ramesh, who was the owner of a private security service provider, was going to his office. As he was not fit enough, he was taking time to get into his car. At that moment, another car came behind his car and started honking the horn repeatedly.

Despite the driver of Ramesh asking the driver of the other car to wait, the accused person did not bother to listen to him. On the contrary, he drove his vehicle and hit Ramesh's car.

When Ramesh protested and got down from his car, the accused person got down as well. Following that, he slapped Ramesh. As the elderly person was a patient of spondylitis, he lost control over his body and fell on the road.

As soon as Ramesh hit the ground, the accused, who was later found to be Sikdar, fled the spot in his car. However, before he left, the driver of Ramesh was able to memorise the last four digits of the car and its model and make, which he later told the police.

Based on his statement, police started scrutinising CCTV camera footage and found Sikdar's car. Later, his address was also found from the database.

On Monday, police produced him at the Alipore Court, where the entire bar association stood for Sikdar. Lawyers including Sikdar on Monday claimed that the case was just an accident and Ramesh did not die due to his slap. The court subsequently granted Sikdar bail under several conditions.

Meanwhile, Ramesh's daughter Puja Behl on Monday dismissed the claim by the lawyers and accused Sikdar for her father's death. The Behl family also raised questions as to why police failed to arrest him before Sikdar surrendered.

The family members also sought an answer to why investigating officials went to Sikdar's house on Sunday, if the car's registration number was identified 24 hours after the incident.