A man who had parked his car on Zakaria Street and mistakenly left the key on the ignition died trying to stop another man from driving it away, police said.

Mohammad Firoz, 52, chased his own car through a crowded Zakaria Street on Tuesday morning and tried to grab the steering wheel when the person at the wheel swerved right, apparently to get rid of him.

The man then rammed the car into a lamp post, crushing Firoz in between.

Mohammad Firoz

Firoz was declared dead at the Medical College and Hospital Calcutta. The person at the wheel has been arrested.

“I was sitting in my shop when I saw a speeding white car and a man hanging from the driver’s window. The car took a sharp right turn and rammed into a lamp post. The man who was hanging from the window was crushed and fell lifeless on the road. A few seconds later, I realised that it was Firoz,” said Mehmood Alam, a resident of Zakaria Street.

The man at the wheel was captured and handed over to police.

Firoz, originally from Bihar, stayed in a rented apartment on Zakaria Street. He would give his vehicle on hire for commercial use, the police said.

“He was very helpful. Even today, a few minutes before his death, he was helping a neighbour repair his car. He would park his car on the road,” said Sheikh Sikandar, another neighbour.

The police identified the man who allegedly tried to steal the car as Mohammad Imroz, 25, a resident of Raj Mohan Street in the Jorasanko area. He has been booked under sections of theft and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

CCTV footage has emerged that shows Firoz attending to a neighbour’s car parked across the road from his.

Two men, one of them wearing a blue T-shirt, are seen loitering around Firoz’s car. Sometime later, as Firoz moves a few steps away from his car, the one wearing the blue T-shirt sneaks into the driver’s seat, while the other person walks away into a crowd.

Seconds later, the car is seen moving ahead before slowing down and veering right. A couple of seconds later, men and women on the road are seen rushing in the direction of the car.

The police said a search has been launched for Imroz’s accomplice.