A bicyclist died after being hit by an autorickshaw in front of the Siemens building on Rashbehari Connector on Thursday night, police said.

At least four cyclists, including Thursday night’s victim, have died and several others got injured in road accidents in past one month. In all the cases, the cyclists were hit by vehicles moving faster.

Satyam Naskar, 35, a resident of Anandapur, was crossing Rashbehari connector in front of the Siemens building when a Gariahat-bound autorickshaw hit him and fled. The offending vehicle was yet to be traced till Friday evening.

The incident happened around 9.30pm on Thursday. Officers of Kasba police station took Naskar to a private hospital on EM Bypass, from where he was shifted to SSKM Hospital. Naskar succumbed to his injuries at 2.30am on Friday.

Following a nod from the state cabinet in June, the police had permitted the movement of bicycles on lanes and bylanes of the city for the convenience of those using cycles to commute in absence of public transport during the pandemic.

Although the official notification had allowed the movement of cycles only through smaller and medium roads, the police were also allowing their movement on thoroughfares on “humanitarian grounds”.

However, with the rise in number of accidents involving cycles, the city police had stopped extending the permission from this month and carried out awareness drives to keep cyclists away from thoroughfares.

The presence of cycles has also reduced vehicular speed on thoroughfares, a police officer said.

The Rashebehari connector, where the accident happened on Thursday, is one of the 62 thoroughfares of Calcutta where cycle movement is restricted within stipulated hours. According to a government notification, cycles are allowed on this stretch only between 11pm and 7am the next morning.

Officers probing the case said that the cyclist was trying to cross the road when the signal was green and traffic was moving. “We understand that a cycle is the cheapest and most user-friendly mode of transport for hundreds of people who either want to avoid public transport during the pandemic or have no public transport connectivity. But their presence of the main roads generally reduces the average speed of other vehicles,” said an officer of the traffic department.

“With increasing volume of traffic, cyclists are most vulnerable to accidents as they do not wear helmets,” he said.