A motorcyclist was found lying on Diamond Harbour Road at Behala Sakherbazar, his head bleeding, early on Saturday. His bike was lying at distance.
A police team took him to Vidyasagar State General Hospital, where he was declared "brought dead".
The deceased was identified as Subhodip Bijoli, 30, a resident of Maheshtala on the southwestern fringe of Kolkata. "Our men did not find a helmet on him. He was lying on the road, bleeding from the head," said an officer of Thakurpukur traffic guard.
The police incident report issued from Lalbazar said the motorcyclist was hit by an "unidentified vehicle". He was found on the Taratala-bound flank of DH Road.
Trucks are known to speed along DH Road as traffic thins at night.
"We are examining CCTV footage to find out more details. But prima facie, it is unlikely that another vehicle ran over him. Barring the head, his body did not have significant injuries," said an officer.
Cops suspect a vehicle hit him and fled or that he lost balance and fell.
Sakherbazar is a busy intersection on DH Road and sees a heavy volume of traffic throughout the day.
The Metro Railway construction has narrowed the road further.
Less than a kilometre from the spot of the accident, on the same flank of DH Road, eight-year-old Souraneel Sarkar was crushed under the wheels of a truck while crossing the road with his father in August. He was on his way to school. His father, Saroj Kumar Sarkar, suffered serious injuries but survived the accident.
A mob had stoned and torched police vehicles and stalled traffic for hours on DH Road after the accident.
The police had come up with a slew of traffic curbs along DH Road in the wake of that accident. The Sakherbazar intersection was one of the areas where the curbs like boom barriers were introduced.