The city police have decided to initiate departmental proceedings against Soumen Das, sub-inspector of Lake police station, who has been arrested for allegedly driving while a man held on to the bonnet and kept shouting asking him to stop.
“A departmental proceeding will be initiated against Soumen Das,” Sudeep Sarkar, deputy commissioner of police, southeast division, told The Telegraph on Monday.
Das was arrested from his Sodepur residence on the northern fringes of Kolkata on Sunday on the charge of attempt to murder.
Senior officers at Lalbazar said they had sought details of the FIR drawn up against Das at Khardah police station following a complaint lodged against him by Vicky Singh.
Singh, a resident of Khardah, said in his complaint that he was waiting to collect food outside an eatery in Sodepur around 10.30pm on Friday, when a man driving a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza hit his car and tried to move past. Singh chased the car and asked the man at the wheel, later identified as sub-inspector Das, to stop.
When Das stopped, Singh asked him what the matter was. The cop then allegedly hit him. As Singh lost balance and fell on the bonnet of the car, Das allegedly started driving.
The cop allegedly drove around 600 metres through BT Road with Singh holding on to the bonnet, screaming for help and asking Das to stop.
The car Das was driving allegedly had a “Police” sticker on it.
The FIR, officers said, will help in understanding whether Das’s alleged act was under any instigation or not.
“A preliminary inquiry will be conducted as part of the departmental proceedings. If Das had felt that the complainant’s action was threatening his life and that of others on Friday night, he could have arrested him under specific sections,” a senior officer at Lalbazar said.
“The departmental proceedings will be carried out according to the procedure laid down in the Departmental Proceedings (enforcement of attendance of witness and production of documents) Act 1973. Das will be summoned to appear and given an opportunity to speak for himself,” the officer said.
“The commissioner of police will take the final decision in accordance with the provisions of the act.”
Das had been allegedly irregular in duty at Lake police station for some time now, a section of senior officers said.
It is still not clear whether he was headed for duty when he was driving down BT Road on Friday night.
