An app-cab driver was among four men arrested early on Wednesday for robbing a shuttle-taxi passenger and temporarily blinding him with powdered chilli before throwing him out of the car on a deserted New Town road late at night.

Partha Dey alias Buro, a 26-year-old resident of Beleghata, and his alleged accomplices Anil Halder, Debashis Dey and Rupak Dey were picked up more than 45 days after software engineer Sumit Ghoshal lodged a complaint with New Town police station.

Sumit, like most people who live or work in New Town, had been forced to get into a shuttle taxi because no other public transport was available after he had stepped out of his office in Sector V around 10.45pm on September 9.

Besides the driver, there were three “passengers” in the Swift Dzire when Sumit got into the car at the Technopolis bus stop. The fare quoted for a ride till DC Block in Action Area I, near the Rabindra Tirtha intersection, was Rs 20.

According to Sumit, who lives in a rented apartment in DC Block, the car had stopped in front of him and the driver asked him where he wanted to go. Anil, Debashis and Rupak allegedly pretended to be passengers going to the airport.

“Partha, who was at the wheel, asked the victim to hop in after quoting the fare. When he mentioned that he wanted to be dropped near his apartment building, the driver readily agreed,” a police officer said.

Sumit was in the back seat between two of the men as the car sped towards the Rabindra Tirtha intersection, 3.8km from the Technopolis bus stop. As soon as the car hit the flyover adjacent to the New Town clock tower, the men asked for his wallet, mobile phone and watch.

“They threatened assault if I refused to do so. One of the men brandished a weapon. All this while, the car was moving. Realising that I would not be able to escape, I did as told,” Sumit, whose roots are in Durgapur, said.

As the car neared the Rabindra Tirtha intersection, Partha allegedly looked for and found a desolate spot. The men in the back seat then pushed Sumit out of the car, took off his spectacles and sprayed a puff of chilli powder into his eyes. The car then sped away.

A couple of passers-by heard Sumit screaming for help and escorted him home.

“The chilli powder in my eyes left me numb with pain and I could not see for a long time. Nothing remotely close to this had happened to me in the past four years that I have spent in New Town,” he said.

Amit Javalgi, the deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Bidhannagar City Police, said the arrests happened a month and a half later on the basis of a tip-off that the accused had been spotted together.

“We are trying to find out if any of the men have criminal antecedents. The vehicle used to commit the crime is used as an app cab by day. At night, the driver often goes off the online platform and moonlights as a shuttle-taxi operator.”

The four accused have been booked for theft (Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code) and abetment (Section 114). They are in judicial custody.