A sub-inspector of Kolkata police allegedly drove almost 600 metres on BT Road on the northern fringes of the city with a man, who he had apparently hit moments before, holding on to the bonnet of the car and screaming for help on Friday night.
Accused Soumen Das, a sub-inspector at Lake police station and a resident of Sodepur, was arrested on Sunday. The car he was allegedly driving, a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, had a “Police” sticker on it.
Police said an altercation between Das and Vicky Singh, who reportedly held on to the bonnet of the officer’s car while he drove through BT Road, triggered the incident.
Singh, a resident of Khardah, said in his complaint that he was waiting to collect food outside an eatery in Sodepur around 10.30pm on Friday, when a man driving a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza hit his car and tried to move past.
Singh chased the car and asked the man at the wheel, later identified as sub-inspector Das, to stop.
“The driver stopped and I asked him what the matter was. He didn’t say anything. He just shook his head, pulled the car back a bit and then hit me. I lost balance and fell on the car’s bonnet. He kept driving. I held onto the bonnet and kept screaming for help as the car moved through BT Road,” Singh told reporters.
“The driver jumped the traffic signal at the Sodepur intersection and continued to speed. I spotted a few civic volunteers and told them to come to my help and inform the police. No one came forward.”
Clutching the car’s bonnet with one hand, Singh pulled out his mobile phone with the other and kept recording the incident.
The video, which has been submitted to the police, shows Vicky yelling at the driver “gaari rokh, gaari rokh (stop the car)”, even as the car keeps speeding amid a drizzle.
Singh alleged that after driving down some distance, the car stopped. The man at the wheel allegedly stepped out and beat up Singh severely before leaving.
The police later escorted Singh to Khardah police station.
“I have no clue why he beat me up. The driver had asked me to move my car near the restaurant. I told him there was enough space for him to park the car,” Singh said.
The police said that after receiving the complaint they scanned footage of CCTV cameras installed along some stretches of BT Road in an attempt to identify the car.
After looking around for the car for over a day, the vehicle was finally spotted on Sunday in Sodepur.
“Soumen Das, identified as the owner of the car and the man who was at the wheel on Friday night, was arrested. He is a sub-inspector of Kolkata police,” said an officer of Khardah police station.
“We have booked him under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to attempt to murder and wrongful restraint. He has been remanded in judicial custody for a day.”
Relatives of Das said Singh was drunk and had blown the incident out of proportion.
