A 22-year-old techie was killed on the EM Bypass early on Tuesday when the taxi he was returning home in was crushed by a truck.

Police said Jashodeep Guha, who worked as a software engineer with a Sector V firm, had probably dozed off in the back seat around 1.25am when a truck laden with stone chips lost control and overturned on the taxi at the Bypass-Beleghata Main Road crossing.

“According to the taxi driver, who suffered minor injuries, the speeding truck turned turtle while swerving to try and avert a collision,” said an officer of Beleghata police station.

“Guha was trapped under the taxi roof and we could only bring him out some 90 minutes after the accident when two cranes were called in from Lalbazar. He was taken to NRS hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival,” he added.

A resident of the Reserve Bank of India housing estate in Salt Lake’s BC block, the techie had hailed the taxi from near the Silver Spring Arcade on the Bypass, where he had probably gone with friends after work.

Guha lived with his father, a retired banker, and mother. His elder brother is a computer engineer posted outside Calcutta.

Police found Guha’s laptop and a cellphone from the mangled taxi. The driver and the helper of the truck (WB04D 7126) are absconding.

“Natai (as he was fondly called) had called his mother when he was on his way back home. They came to know about the tragedy when a policeman came calling,” said a neighbour. “He was a very popular boy and had only recently joined work in Sector V. The entire housing estate is shocked by his tragic death.”

Mother-son tragedy

Late on Monday, a mother-son duo were killed at the Ram Nagar crossing in Kidderpore when they were hit by a minibus on the Metiabruz-Howrah route.

Police said Guria Yadav, 23, was walking along the road with three-year-old son Trishul Yadav in her lap when the bus knocked her down from behind around 10pm.

Guria was declared dead on arrival at SSKM Hospital while Trishul succumbed to his head injuries at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan on Tuesday.

A mob set up roadblocks on Monday night and Tuesday morning to protest poor traffic management in the area.