Two persons died in two road accidents in the city on Saturday night and early on Sunday, police said.
A motorcyclist died in New Town and another man died after slipping off the footboard of a bus on EM Bypass.
The first of the two accidents happened at Kalikapur, on EM Bypass, when a commuter, identified by the police as Prabir Das, 50, a resident of Joynagar in South 24-Parganas, slipped and fell on the road while trying to get off a private bus.
Police said the man was travelling on a bus on the Dakshineswar-Garia route. The accident happened around 8.30pm on Saturday when the bus, which was moving towards Science City, stopped for a few seconds at the EM Bypass-Kalikapur crossing to let passengers get off.
“Prabir Das slipped from the footboard of the bus and fell on the road. He suffered injuries on both his legs and had to be admitted to a private hospital on the Bypass. He succumbed to his injuries around 2.30am on Sunday,” said an officer of the fatal squad of the Calcutta police’s traffic department.
Survey Park police station has started a case against the bus driver under IPC sections related to causing death due to negligence and rash and negligent driving.
The police said they had arrested the bus driver and seized the vehicle.
Accidents caused by rash and dangerous driving are not uncommon in the city where buses on the same route are often involved in racing to pick up more passengers.
The second accident happened near the Narkel Bagan crossing in New Town early on Sunday.
The police said Rohan Dhancholia, a resident of Bangur Avenue, was returning home around 3am when his vehicle apparently lost balance and skidded on the road.
“We are trying to find out the cause of the accident,” said an officer of New Town police station, where a case has been registered. He said there were tyre marks on the road, which indicated the two-wheeler had skidded.
An officer at the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said they had received information about an accident early on Sunday. On reaching the spot, they found Dhancholia lying in a pool of blood on the road. He was taken to Bidhannagar Sub-divisional Hospital, where he was declared dead.
“Dhancholia’s family members said he had called one of them 15 minutes before the accident. They learnt about the accident from me,” the officer said.
The Telegraph could not contact Dhancholia’s family to verify the version.
Police said they were collecting footage from the CCTV cameras installed on the stretch to ascertain the exact sequence of the event.
Kolkata International Film Festival wraps up in style
Director Ishaan Ghose and producer Goutam Ghose accept the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film in the International Competition category for Jhilli on the concluding day of the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival at Rabindra Sadan on Sunday. Picture by Gautam Bose
The Golden Royal Bengal Trophy for Best Indian Documentary Film, Best Indian Short Film and Best Director for International Competition on Innovation in Moving Images went to Nikke Manu di Nikki Kataab, Geru Patra and Ola Jankowska (for Anatomia), respectively.
The Netpac Award for Asian Select Best Film went to Manikbabur Megh. The Hiralal Sen Memorial Award for Best Film and Best Director in Indian languages films category went to Adieu Godard and Ishrat R Khan (for Guthlee Laddoo), respectively.
The highlight of the day was the felicitation of 13 of Satyajit Ray’s cast and crew members in the presence of Sandip Ray.