CLOSE ENCOUNTER: Minibus conductor Gopal Das. Picture by Amit Datta

An army jawan stopped a minibus after it came dangerously close to his motorcycle and beat up the driver and the conductor at BBD Bag (East), off Writer’s Buildings, on Friday morning.

N.K. Yadav, of the Signals wing, also took away a few documents of the vehicle from conductor Gopal Das and asked him to get them back from Fort William, the Eastern Command headquarters.

The driver, whipped with a belt, fled after the assault, while Das, punched in the mouth, was taken to Medical College and Hospital by a traffic sergeant.

Yadav was accompanied by a pillion-rider, who was holding the two-wheeler while he was on the assault spree.

The incident brought back memories of last New Year’s eve, when 20-odd soldiers in uniform, led by a lieutenant-colonel, went on the rampage at Park Street police station and freed two of their colleagues, who had been arrested for misconduct.

“Based on Das’s complaint, we have started a case against two unknown army officers. They have been charged under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily hurting someone), 379 (theft) and 114 (presence of an abetter when the offence was committed),” said an officer of Hare Street police station. “The FIR will be forwarded to the court.”

The army launched a departmental probe to find out what had prompted the jawan to beat up the driver and the conductor.

“There’s no denying the fact that the jawan was at fault. But judging by his statement, it seems the minibus had hit the motorcycle, leaving a dent on its body,” said an army spokesperson.

The minibus, on the Howrah-Shakuntala Park route, was speeding down the city-bound flank of the road when the driver suddenly swerved to the left to pick up passengers and came too close to the jawan on the motorcycle, conductor Das recalled.

“I screamed at the driver (he did not know his name) to stop. When the bus stopped, the jawan headed straight for the driver and demanded his licence. As the driver failed to produce it, the jawan beat him up with his belt,” added Das, a resident of Behala’s NG Saha Road.

After the driver fled, Yadav walked up to Das and asked him to hand over all the vehicle’s papers. “I gave him the insurance and route permit papers as demanded, but he started beating me up and repeatedly punched me on the face. I begged for mercy with folded hands, saying I had asked the driver to stop, but he did not listen to me. When he finally let go of me, I was bleeding from the mouth and could barely talk,” Das recounted.

A five-year veteran in the profession, Das had once faced a similar situation in Babughat. “I was then confronted by a group of armymen. But I pleaded for mercy and the matter ended there. I applied the same trick today, in vain,” said Das.