A cattle-laden van racing at breakneck speed knocked down a boy at a village near Maynaguri on Sunday, prompting local people to torch the vehicle and attack police personnel and their vehicles and a fire brigade team.
The deceased student was Santosh Roy, 14, who was going to attend private tuitions with two friends.
Seeing a pick-up van carrying cattle bearing down on them at Jorpakhri, Sudip Roy, jumped on one side of the road. Santosh and the other boy jumped on the opposite side and both were hit by the vehicle.
Santosh, a student of Jorpakhri Abdul Ghani High School, was crushed and his friend suffered injuries. Both were rushed to the local health centre where doctors pronounced Santosh dead.
“The cattle fell from the vehicle in the accident. Instead of rescuing the boys, driver was busy rescuing the animals and fleeing the spot. This infuriated villagers,” said a source.
A large number of people gathered and set the van on fire. Another pick-up van crossing the locality was also torched.
A police team reached the spot. The mob pelted the police and their vehicles with stones, leaving one man in uniform injured.
“A police vehicle was ransacked and some policemen were manhandled,” said the source.
A fire engine that had gone to the spot to douse the blaze was partially damaged in the violence.
Additional policemen were sent to the spot and senior officers arrived to control the situation. The mob allowed the police and the fire brigade personnel to do their work only after senior officers promised all necessary steps.
Ashim Gope, the inspector-in-charge of Maynaguri police station, DSP (crime) Bikramjit Lama, OC (traffic) Manik Das and other officers reached Jorpakhri and brought the situation under control.
The also visited the house of the deceased student and promised action against the accused driver who surrendered at the local police station.
“Our men are patrolling the area. We will also see that vehicles follow traffic rules,” a senior officer said.