A 26-year-old man biker was killed and the pillion rider was injured after their motorcycle crashed into a stationary truck Friday, police said.
Neeraj Singh 26, who hails from Jharkhand and was in the city, possibly for a job interview, was killed when he rammed a friend’s motorbike behind a truck that had braked to a stop at the traffic signal on New Town’s Major Arterial Road (MAR) near Westin hotel in the early hours of Friday, said a police officer.
His friend, Pintu Das, riding a pillion was also severely injured as he too was flung off the two-wheeler. Neither of the men was wearing helmets, a senior officer of Bidhannagar commissionerate’s traffic wing said. According to the officer, motorists alerted the cops after they saw the men lying on the road and bleeding profusely.
“The impact of the crash was such that the front end of the motorcycle was damaged. Neeraj suffered a grievous head injury and was already unconscious when we reached the spot,” the officer said.
Both Neeraj and Pintu were taken to the Bidhannagar sub-divisional hospital in Salt Lake where Neeraj was declared dead.
“He had suffered a head injury and had lost a lot of blood. We could not revive him,” a doctor of the sub-divisional hospital said. Pintu fractured his collarbone and was referred to the NRS Hospital where he is admitted.
A senior traffic police officer of Bidhannagar commissionerate said had both the men been wearing helmets then the fatal accident could have been avoided.
“Helmets bear the brunt during the time of a crash. Had the young man been wearing a good quality helmet then there were high chances of him coming out alive from this crash,” the officer said.
Bikers without helmets zipping down the roads and streets of New Town are not an uncommon sight. In May, a man in his late 20s died and three others were injured when two speeding motorcycles collided head-on in New Town while they were racing at night.
“We carry out regular checking but somehow a section of bikers manage to race at night. We are going to increase patrolling and surveillance to prevent this,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar commissionerate.
Goons in office
Two armed goons on Friday afternoon allegedly stormed into the office of the Bolpur block land and land reforms officer (BLRO) Sanjay Roy, held him at gunpoint and asked him to record a few land parcels in the name of “their persons”.
Roy, the BLRO, lodged a complaint with Bolpur police and sought police security for his office after the incident. Eyewitnesses said two youths entered Roy’s chamber around4pm, dropped a few papers on his table, whipped out their guns and asked him to record a few parcels of land in the name of“their persons”.
Police have started a probe. “There is no CCTV coverage inside or outside the block land office. We have taken the physical description of the two,” said an officer.