Speeding bus knocks down motorcyclist, hits 5 other vehicles in escape attempt

Kolkata: A speeding bus knocked down a motorcyclist critically injuring him and while trying to flee hit five vehicles parked on the road side.

The incident took place at the crossing of Rashbehari Avenue and Lake View road at around 10 am on Wednesday. Police have managed to arrest the bus driver and seized the bus after the incident.

The injured victim was rushed to a private hospital where he has been undergoing treatment with several injuries on his body. The local people told the police that the bus was not only over-speeding while passing through the crossing, but it had also skipped the signal. A motorcyclist was passing through the area when the bus knocked him down. The motorcyclist has been identified as Biplab Das who received some critical injuries in the accident. Biplab is a resident of Dhakuria and he runs a shop at Dharmatala, police said. He was going to his shop on Tuesday morning when he met with an accident.

Some doctors of a private hospital situated close to the accident site rushed to the spot and took him to the hospital. But they later shifted the patient to another private hospital in Dhakuria as the previous hospital had no trauma care unit. According to the hospital authorities the patient's condition is serious.

The front portion of the bus of route number 18/C was also damaged partially as it hit five other vehicles as the driver of the bus accelerated the vehicle to flee the spot after knocking down the victim. Two costly cars were also damaged in the incident. The incident triggered tension among the local people and many of them ran for safety when the bus was crashing into one vehicle after the other that remained parked road side.

The eyewitnesses said that the bus driver became panicked after hitting the motorcycle and sped up his vehicle to run away. The accident happened as he skipped a traffic signal. It is presumed that the driver was racing with another bus which had led to the incident. Police are, however, investigating into the incident. Bus driver Biswanath Saha who was arrested in this connection has been slapped with various charges including reckless driving, flouting traffic norms. A probe has been initiated.