Elderly woman killed in Sector V road mishap

Kolkata: Barely 24 hours after a woman was critically injured in a road accident in New Town, another fatal incident occurred in Salt Lake Sector V, where an elderly woman died after a bus allegedly struck her while taking a left turn. Police, however, said it is still unclear whether the bus hit her or she fell in fear as the vehicle approached.

According to sources, the victim, identified as Arati Das, 60, from Panihati, had come to Sector V with her husband, aged around 70, to look for an office where their son once worked. The couple had grown worried because their son had not returned home for the past two months.

The accident took place near College More, where the couple was standing by the roadside. A bus on route 215A, coming from the Electronics Complex police station side, was taking a left turn towards Mahisbathan when Das fell and sustained severe injuries. She was taken to Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Hospital, where she died.

While some witnesses alleged that the bus hit Das as it turned, police said a few people at the spot reported a different sequence. They claimed that as the bus turned, the gap between the vehicle and the pedestrian narrowed due to the turning radius. Das may have tried to step back, lost balance and fallen, they said.

Police have registered an unnatural death case and launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the fall. Nima Norbu Bhutia, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic, Bidhannagar City Police, said: “As far as we know, the woman did not fall due to the bus hitting her. The bus might have touched her after she lost control and fell down. We are probing to find out what exactly happened.”