A woman assistant sub-inspector of police died after the motorcycle she was riding skidded on a tram track and she was hit and dragged by an oil tanker near Tollygunge Metro station on Monday night, police said.

Rituparna Dey, who lived with her elderly parents at the Tollygunge police quarters and was posted at the Diamond Harbour police lines, was declared dead in hospital.

The accident happened when she was returning to her quarters from work, the police said.

“The assistant sub-inspector was returning home after duty. She travelled through Diamond Harbour Road, crossed the Karunamoyee bridge and was heading towards Tollygunge when her two-wheeler skidded on a tram track near Tollygunge Metro station around 11pm,” said an officer of Kolkata Police.

Dey was flung off on the road and before she could recover, an oil tanker coming from the opposite direction hit her, the police said.

Dey was dragged along the road for a few metres before the tanker stopped.

The police have seized the tanker and arrested its driver.

“The oil tanker was moving at a high speed. Had the vehicle been moving at a slower pace, the driver could have pressed the brakes in time and the officer’s life would have been saved,” said an officer in the traffic department of Kolkata Police.

According to official records of the traffic police, the highest number of road accidents is reported between 10pm and 11pm.

“Motorists tend to speed when the roads are empty. They do not realise that it becomes difficult to negotiate if a vehicle approaches from the opposite side because of the speed. This is how most accidents happen at night,” said a senior officer of the traffic police.