A brawl on Bentinck Street on Tuesday night ended in a death. Subodh Pandey, in his early 30s, died after being punched in the chest.

He was with two friends. All three were drunk and got involved in a fight with a taxi driver.

The driver allegedly hit Pandey, a resident of the New Market area. Local residents took him to Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.

On seeing Pandey slump to the pavement, the driver, identified as Narayan Mandal, tried to speed away in his taxi but was caught by bystanders. Hare Street police later took him in custody.

According to the cops, the brawl took place around 11.45 pm, after Pandey and his two friends came out of a restaurant drunk. They had been drinking since 7.30 pm.

Mandal was waiting for passengers in front of the restaurant. When the three tried to get into the taxi, Mandal refused to take them to their destination as they were drunk.

The refusal triggered the altercation. Within five minutes, the trio allegedly dragged the driver out of the car and beat him up.

The restaurant employees had come out but they did not try to pacify the group.

Mandal retaliated by allegedly punching Pandey. 'The youth could not utter a single word. He immediately slumped to the pavement. Within seconds, he turned still. The bystanders took him to the hospital in another taxi,' said deputy commissioner (headquarters) Pradip Chatterjee.

Pandey died of a heart attack, said the doctors.