Residents of Behala and others who were protesting the child’s death in an accident at Behala Chowrasta ransacked the Diamond Harbour traffic guard’s office and set fire to files, computers and laptops.
Officers said documents seized from the public and data related to traffic fines and prosecutions were destroyed in the arson attack.
Two police vehicles, four two-wheelers and two buses were torched.
Two senior officers of the traffic department said the extent of damage and the quantum of loss in the traffic guard’s office were yet to be assessed. If what they fear is true, people of the area could be among the worst-affected.
Diamond Harbour traffic guard: The traffic guard that looks after traffic-related issues on a large stretch of Diamond Harbour Road and adjoining areas in Behala became a part of Kolkata police’s traffic wing in September 2011 after “added areas” were merged with the city police.
An officer of the Diamond Harbour traffic guard said around 300 people stormed the building on Friday morning.
“They first attacked the ‘raid case section’, where we keep files of the cases and prosecutions we have done in the past 15 days,” said the officer.
The next area to be damaged was the process section, where the police keep the fines they have collected and the documents seized from offending motorists.
“This is one of the most important areas in a traffic guard as we keep public documents here. If a driving licence is seized, the owner has to come and collect it from this section. Now everything is gutted,” the officer said.
The people who trespassed into the office and torched the computers, laptops and scanners also ransacked the room of the officer in charge of the traffic guard.
Also ransacked was the sergeants’ room, where sergeants of the traffic guard rest and keep their personal belongings.
Damaged vehicles: The police said four two-wheelers were completely gutted — two near Behala Chowrasta and two outside the Diamond Harbour traffic guard office. Two four-wheelers belonging to the force, which are meant to carry police personnel, were torched. The windscreens of two buses that just happened to be there at that time were smashed.
Till Friday evening, 11 persons were arrested in connection with the arson and ransacking of private and public properties.
