A 54-year-old woman who was returning home on an app driven motorcycle after tying rakhi on her brothers at her parents’ house met with an accident near the Lake Gardens flyover and was hospitalised with head injuries on Sunday night.

The man at the wheel of the Swift Dzire that hit the bike was allegedly in an inebriated state, police said. The accused is a doctor.

Mili Mukherjee, a homemaker, had hired a two-wheeler to return home to Parnasree when the accident happened.

“The surge for app cabs was too high. So, my wife hired a two-wheeler. I later came to know that when she was crossing Lake Kalibari, a Swift Dzire that was being driven in a reckless manner shoved the bike in such a way that the two-wheeler lost balance and fell,” said husband Prosenjit Mukherjee.

The app bike rider suffered injuries on his back.

The car, after the accident, came to a screeching halt in the middle of the road and was surrounded by people, the police said.

The accident happened around 9.25pm. A passer-by who found Prosenjit’s number on Mili’s phone alerted him by 9.30pm.

“I was told that the police were taking her and the bike driver to Baghajatin State General Hospital. Later, we shifted her to a private hospital. She has suffered head injuries. Doctors have suggested a CT scan,” Prosenjit said.

The man at the wheel, whom the police identified as a doctor, was handed over to Charu Market police station, where a case of rash and negligent driving under the influence of alcohol was drawn up. The accused underwent a medical test to ascertain whether he was intoxicated.

An officer of Charu Market police station said there were two other occupants in the car — a doctor and an engineer — who have also been prosecuted under the Calcutta police suburban act.

“They were intoxicated, too, and did nothing to stop their friend from driving in a dangerous way,” the officer said.

The car has been seized. A stethoscope was found on the dashboard of the car. The police refused to divulge the identity of the doctor at the wheel.

A senior police officer said it was practically impossible to carry out a drive against drink driving during the pandemic situation using breathalysers.

A breathalyser is a machine where a motorist is asked to blow air through his or her mouth to ascertain the percentage of alcohol in the blood.

The test includes physical contact with the machine and so, during the pandemic, it cannot be shared without proper sanitisation before every use.