Two killed in separate road accidents in city

KOLKATA: Two persons were killed in two separate road accidents on Wednesday night and Thursday morning across

the city.

On Wednesday night, an auto-rickshaw toppled near Acropolis Mall and the driver died on the spot due to head injuries. According to locals, an auto was headed towards the Ruby crossing from Bijan Setu. Near Acropolis Mall, the driver of the auto identified as Santosh Gupta (30) lost control over the vehicle and it toppled.

Gupta fell outside from the vehicle and sustained major head injuries as his head banged against the road. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital where the doctors declared Gupta brought dead. It is suspected that Gupta was in an inebriated state while driving.

In another incident, a pedestrian came in between two buses of the same route when they were competing with each other. One of the buses knocked him down while overtaking his rival on Thursday morning around 9 am.

Locals alleged that the two buses of route number 30D were racing with each other to get more passengers onboard. One of the two reached the Belgachia Metro stoppage first and started picking up passengers. In the meantime, when the driver noticed his rival was about to overtake, he moved the bus to its right to block it. But the other bus driver was so determined to overtake, he drove one wheel on the median divider to get his way. In this situation, a pedestrian came in between the buses and was ran over by the overtaking bus.

While the first bus driver fled the scene with his vehicle, the driver and the conductor of the second bus fled leaving the bus on the middle of the road. Police immediately rushed the injured, identified as Badal Das, to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Later, a case against the driver of the offending bus was registered at the Ultadanga police station under the sections 279 IPC (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (Causing death by negligence). The offending bus has been seized and a search is on to nab the driver.