A 26-year-old man who apparently stopped his two-wheeler on the Parama flyover to receive a phone call was hit by a car from behind and flung off the flyover on the ground below near Calcutta Boating Club, suffering fatal injuries.
The incident happened on Monday afternoon on the Park Circus-bound flank of the flyover when the scooterist, Arijit Maitra, and his friend Duhita Pal, 24, were heading for the city for shopping, police said. Duhita survived with relatively fewer injuries and has been hospitalised.
Both were wearing helmets, police said. Friends said the two were to tie the knot soon.
Maitra was a resident of Baishakhi Abashon in Salt Lake. Duhita is from Salt Lake, too.
The car that rammed into Arijit’s two-wheeler was being driven by a youth from Sankrail in Howrah. He was accompanied by his mother and younger brother, and the three were on their way to Science City.
The police said the car — a red Maruti Suzuki Alto —would not have been there on the flyover. “The driver must have mistaken the route and accidentally taken the flyover, instead of the service road next to it that leads to Science City,” an officer of Pragati Maidan police station said.
“The woman said the rider had suddenly stopped on the flyover to answer a call. A car then hit them from behind,” the officer said.
Maitra was flung off the vehicle and he landed almost 40ft below. Both were taken to the Calcutta National Medical College, where Maitra died.
The youth who was at the wheel of the car, Fahin Halder, has been arrested and charged with causing death due to negligence.
Halder’s mother said they did not know Calcutta’s roads well. “There was a white car in front of ours. Then suddenly it steered right. Before my son could react, our car hit the stationary scooter,” an officer quoted her as saying.