A 21-year-old scooterist returning home with a friend died on Prince Anwar Shah Road early on Monday after being hit by a truck.
Police said the truck fled, leaving behind the bleeding man and a woman, who was riding pillion.
Cops took the man, who they identified as Bikash Pandey, to MR Bangur Hospital, where he was declared dead. The woman, Shilpa Adhikari, has been hospitalised with multiple injuries.
The police said the scooter was apparently trying to overtake the truck from the left while taking a left turn when it got hit.
“Neither Pandey nor Adhikari was wearing a helmet. A truck hit them when the scooter was trying to take a left turn while overtaking the truck from the left. The truck fled the spot. We are trying to track down the truck and arrest the driver,” said an officer of the fatal squad of the traffic police, who is probing the accident.
Pandey was a resident of Dover Lane and Adhikari is from Behala. The police said they had contacted the families of both.
“The findings of a preliminary investigation suggest that they were returning home when the accident happened around 1.55am,” said an officer of the traffic department.
A case was started at Charu Market police station under IPC sections of rash and negligent driving, causing death due to negligence, mischief and hurting someone by doing an act in a rash and negligent manner. It was later transferred to the fatal squad of the traffic police.
According to statistics, the police said, the vehicles responsible for a large number of road accidents in the city flee the spot and remain “unidentified” for several months or even years.
“It becomes easier to track down such a vehicle if the accident spot has a CCTV camera. But in the absence of CCTV footage, and also if there are no eyewitnesses, it becomes difficult to ascertain the identity of the offending vehicle, especially so if the accident happens at night,” an officer said.
As for the Anwar Shah Road accident, the police said the CCTV footage was grainy.
Senior officers stressed the need to wear a helmet while riding a two-wheeler. “We always encourage two-wheeler riders to wear helmets because they are most vulnerable to accidents,” said an officer.