A 19-year-old boy from a remote village in Howrah who passed the higher secondary exams this year and travels over 35km to a coaching centre in Minto Park to prepare for competitive exams, was found lying injured on AJC Bose Road on Thursday morning.
Arpan Bera, who took a bus from Santragachhi in the morning to reach the coaching centre, was found lying along the Park Circus-bound flank of the road.
He was bleeding from the mouth when passers-by spotted him and alerted the nearest traffic cop around 9.05am.
Arpan suffered multiple injuries at one of the city’s most prominent intersections — AJC Bose Road and Minto Park — but police have yet to figure out how.
The police said it was not clear if he had fallen off the bus or was hit by a vehicle.
Cops took Arpan to a private hospital and then to SSKM Hospital, where he was admitted to the trauma care wing.
Arpan’s cousin Ashok Bera, who spoke to him in hospital later, told The Telegraph
that the boy was unable to comprehend what happened to him.
CCTV camera footage is being analysed to find out the sequence of events leading to the accident.
A traffic cop on duty near the spot said the boy looked shocked and could not utter a word.
“He was unable to talk. Instead of waiting for the ambulance, we picked him up in our vehicle and took him to a private hospital, where he was given first-aid. We found his identity card and his father’s contact number and called him,” said the officer.
The stretch on AJC Bose Road where Arpan was found injured is lined with schools and remains busy with office-goers and school students.
Arpan’s father Animesh Bera, who runs a zari business in Howrah, rushed to the hospital with his family.
“He is not speaking coherently. He usually speaks very little and is mostly engrossed in studies. He said either his shoe got stuck when he was alighting from the bus or something hit him when he got off the bus. He is not sure what exactly happened,” Ashok said.
Family members said Arpan has received five stitches on his lips and seven on his arm. “He is on a liquid diet,” a family member said.
The family members said Arpan decided not to enrol in any college and was preparing for the medical entrance examination.
“His aim since childhood has been to become doctor. We all respected his decision when he said he would not enrol in any college and, instead, prepare for medical entrance exams,” a family member said.
The boy’s father said he pooled his resources to get his only son admitted to the coaching centre.