A 63-year-old man died while getting off a private bus in Entally on Tuesday night.
Police said Tufani Kahar, a resident of Beleghata Road, was getting off a bus of route 24/A that connects Howrah and Topsia around 10.50pm.
He slipped and fell in Palmer Bazar, near its crossing with Lorry Road, the police said.
Kahar suffered multiple injuries after he fell from the bus.
A section of passersby and people from the area alerted the cops.
He was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital.
Doctors said Kahar was initially admitted to the Emergency ward. He was later shifted to one of the intensive care units of the hospital after his condition started deteriorating, doctors said.
“Around 1.50am on Wednesday, a little over two hours after the man was admitted to the hospital, he died,” said a senior officer of the Entally police station.
“Doctors said the victim had suffered internal haemorrhage and his oxygen saturation continued to drop while his organs started failing,” the officer said.
A section of passengers on the bus told the police the driver was driving very rashly after leaving Sealdah, possibly trying to complete the last trip of the day.
Some of the passengers had even asked the driver to slow down multiple times, they told the police.
The intersection of Palmer Bazar Road and Lorry Road, adjacent to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s solid waste workshop and the asphaltum department, is a busy crossing with heavy pedestrian crossovers and movement of trucks and other goods vehicles.
Eyewitnesses told the police the bus was headed for Topsia and Kahar was the only passenger to get off at the intersection.
“Some of the eyewitnesses said the bus driver stopped for a few seconds while the man was deboarding and then pulled off in a rush. The passenger fell after slip-
ping from one of the steps of the bus,” the police officer said.
“We have arrested the driver and the bus has been seized,” the officer added.
Senior police officers said a case of death due to negligence under section 304A of the Indian Penal Code has been drawn up against the driver along with rash driving under section 279 of the IPC.
“Plastic rods were set up as median dividers on this stretch of Palmer Bazar but buses and heavy vehicles have knocked down most of them,” the officer said.