A 23-year-old woman riding pillion on a motorcycle died after an SUV hit the two-wheeler from behind when the bike had slowed down at a traffic signal in New Town around 10.30pm on Monday.
Swagata Ghoshal, a TCS employee, was riding pillion on colleague Sudipto Banerjee’s bike, police said. The two were headed to New Barrackpore, where Ghoshal lived.
Banerjee had applied the brakes of his motorcycle, as the traffic signal turned amber and was about to turn red in front of Eco Park’s gate number 1, when a Mahindra Bolero, of a cable network company, hit the two-wheeler, the police said.
Motorists across the city tend to accelerate instead of slowing down when the traffic light turns amber in a bid to speed through an intersection before the light turns red.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate’s traffic wing said motorists are supposed to slow down when the light turns amber and bring their vehicles to a halt before the stop line when the signal turns red.
Ghoshal and Banerjee were wearing helmets. The impact was such that Ghoshal was flung off the bike. She landed head first on the asphalt, the officer said. Her helmet had come off.
Banerjee was dragged along with the bike for several metres before coming to a halt, the officer said.
“The Mahindra Bolero was being driven at a high speed. The driver did not pressthe brakes, because of which the vehicle rammed into the bike. The impact was such that the woman was flung off. She fell head first on the hard asphalt of the road,” said the officer.
Traffic cops at the kiosk from where the traffic lights are controlled in front of the Eco Park gate called in a police ambulance, which took both riders to a private hospital in Chinar Park.
“The woman had suffered a massive head injury and multiple other injuries.She lost a lot of blood andwas unconscious when she was brought in. We failed to revive her,” a hospital official said.
Banerjee, too, suffered multiple injuries but his helmet had not come off. He was admitted to the critical care unit of the hospital. His family members later shifted him to a nursing home.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said the SUV had been converted into a maintenance van for the cable network company and had at least four persons, including the driver, inside. The vehicle also had a ladder mounted on its roof.
The police arrested the driver and seized the vehicle.
Power theft
The city police onTuesday said they have arrested 45 persons from acrossCalcutta for alleged electricitytheft since March 15.
