A teenager at the wheel of a Ford Escort hit a motorcyclist at the crossing of JL Nehru Road and Theatre Road on Sunday evening, police said.

Kanishk Khemka, 19, has been arrested on charges of causing death by negligence and rash and negligent driving, the police said.

The motorcyclist Bharat Yadav, 27, died of injuries a few hours after the accident. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident but had jumped a red signal according to CCTV footage of the area, the police said.

The charges against Khemka carry a maximum punishment of two years in jail and/or fine.

The teenager studies in Boston University and had returned to Calcutta just before the lockdown, an officer of Hastings police station said.

He was moving along Theatre Road towards Birla Planetarium in the Ford Escort around 4.35pm when the motorcyclist headed towards Esplanade from the Exide crossing came in front of the vehicle, the officer said.

“It is clear in the CCTV footage that a string of vehicles were moving along Theatre Road towards Birla Planetarium. The signal was green but there was a gap between two sets of vehicles when the motorcyclist waiting at a red signal at the JL Nehru Road-Theatre Road crossing started moving,” the officer said. “The four-wheeler came out of Theatre Road almost at the same time and hit the motorcyclist.”

Motorcyclist Yadav had fractures in his head and legs. A few hours later, he died of injuries at hospital.

Yadav, who lived in the Jorasanko area, used to work at a garments shop in Burrabazar, the police said.

The four-wheeler was stopped at the accident spot and the teenager at the wheel taken to the police station.