Dec. 23: The busy Noonmati-Narengi Road remained closed for two hours today when residents put up a blockade after a trekker knocked down a motorcyclist killing him on the spot around 6am.

An eyewitness said the driver sped away before anyone could note down the registration number of the trekker.

Angry residents put up the road blockade at Narengi Tiniali. This disturbed vehicular movement in the area and caused problems for commuters. School buses were also stuck in the traffic jam.

The agitated people demanded immediate arrest of the trekker driver, holding him responsible for the death of the youth, identified as 26-year-old Ratul Das. Das was a resident of the Assam State Electricity Board Colony in Noonmati. He was working as a floor assistant for a city-based private satellite television channel.

A police source said he died of head injuries.

Passers-by and residents alleged that the trekker driver was not only driving rashly but was also on the wrong side of the road.

“There was tension in the area after the accident,” the source said.

Timely intervention by the police, however, prevented the tension from escalating.

The blockade was lifted after about two hours following an assurance from the traffic police that they would track down the trekker and arrest its driver.

“The blockade was lifted at 8.30am without use of force,” the source said.

The people, however, did not to allow any trekker to ply on that route till the errant driver was arrested.

The source said locating the trekker proved difficult as nobody could give them its registration number.

“We alerted all the police stations and the trekker was finally detained at Bharalumukh about three hours after the accident,” he added.

Bharalumukh police became suspicious as there were scratch marks and dents on the body of the vehicle and it was coming from Narengi.

“During interrogation, the driver admitted that he had hit the two-wheeler and that he was driving on the wrong side of the road,” the source said.

“We have charged the driver, identified as Utpal Kalita, 24, with rash driving causing death,” he added.

Bharalumukh police handed over Kalita, a resident of Chandmari, to their counterparts in Noonmati. A case has been registered against him. The police also impounded his trekker, bearing registration number AS-01/AC 2665.

“These trekker drivers need to be taught a lesson. Some of them drive so rashly,” Jogendra Nath Barman, a resident of Noonmati, said.