A doctor allegedly abused and slapped a woman learning how to drive for blocking traffic on Prince Anwar Shah Road on Tuesday morning.

Priyanka Gupta (name changed on request) has lodged a complaint against the doctor, later identified as orthopaedic surgeon Gautam Basu, with Charu Market police station. Basu denied the allegations but a case has been started.

“I was driving slowly down the middle of Prince Anwar Shah Road around 11.15 am on Tuesday. I had started the course only a few days ago and the trainer was sitting beside me,” recalled the woman, in her mid-20s, who used to work for a website in Hyderabad.

A black Santro approached the car from behind. “The driver was honking impatiently. The person sitting beside him started shouting at us,” said Priyanka.

According to her, the Santro overtook the training car and stopped, blocking its way. “The man sitting beside the driver came out of the car and started hurling abuses at me. He was bearded and appeared to be in his 50s. I asked him not to shout. He then tried to pull open the door of the car,” she said. The lock was faulty and the door did not open.

“The bearded man then slapped me. It happened so fast that I couldn’t react. Several people gathered around the cars. The man soon left in his Santro,” stated Priyanka.

She went to MR Bangur Hospital, where she was referred to an ENT specialist. Priyanka had noted the number of the car and reported it to the police.

“It is true that I was holding up traffic, but that was no way to behave. I am shocked,” said Priyanka, a postgraduate in economics from a city college. She moved to Calcutta from Hyderabad since she did not want to stay alone. She now stays with her family in Golf Green.

The police found out from the public vehicles department that the car belongs to Basu.

“I was in a hurry to attend to a patient and the girl was blocking the road. She told me that it was not my father’s road. I was shocked to hear such abusive language from a lady,” said the 56-year-old surgeon.

“I was angry and tried to take away the keys of the training car, but I never hit her,” Basu added.

“We are looking into the allegations made by the woman. A case has been started,” said Ajay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (south) on Friday.