Sergeant Sudip Maity

The sergeant who stopped MP Tarit Topdar’s car and booked his driver for traffic violations a month ago took on his immediate boss on Tuesday for allegedly preventing him from taking action against a lorry driver.

Sudip Kumar Maity lodged a general diary at Cossipore police station, accusing his officer-in-charge in the Shyambazar traffic guard, Tapan Kumar Mitra, of pressuring him not to slap a case on the lorry driver he had caught violating a signal on Monday.

The sergeant said Mitra instigated about 20 youths having links with the truck owners’ association to heckle him while he was on duty at the same crossing in Cossipore on Tuesday.

“I was shocked to see a group of men abusing me in front of the officer-in-charge. I recognised most of them because they had participated in the road safety week programmes organised by the traffic guard last week. They are all linked to the truck owners’ association. Some of them heckled me and even tried to damage my bike,” Maity told Metro.

The sergeant said he felt his blood pressure shoot up during the incident and decided to seek medical attention. He went straight to the Calcutta Police Hospital in Bhowanipore on his bike and got himself admitted.

Maity later called up K. Harirajan, the additional commissioner (III) in charge of traffic, and Manoj Verma, the deputy commissioner of traffic, to narrate his side of the story. It was Harirajan who had backed the sergeant when he booked Topdar’s driver for a series of traffic violations at the Shyambazar five-point crossing on June 3.

Bystanders, too, had egged on Maity as he refused to be cowed down by threats from the MP, who was in the vehicle and supporting his driver.

“I have come to know about the incident and already ordered a probe. Action will be taken accordingly,” Harirajan said.

Mitra declined comment on the episode.

According to the general diary No. 561, Maity had intercepted a lorry with an Orissa number plate (OR15G-1532) at the Cossipore intersection for ignoring a signal.

When the driver failed to produce the vehicle’s registration papers, he called up a colleague at the Shyambazar traffic guard to ask for a reclamation van. The lorry was then towed to Cossipore police station.

The sergeant said he soon received a call on his mobile phone from another sergeant, B.K. Saha, who asked him to let the vehicle go. When he refused to do so, Mitra took the phone from Saha and threatened him.

“I tried to convince him that the driver was at fault and had no valid papers, but he insisted that I should carry out his order and release the vehicle. But I refused to bow down because I was performing the duty for which I am paid,” Maity said.

The lorry driver was allowed to take the vehicle after he produced the registration papers and paid a fine.

Maity thought the matter had ended there, but realised it hadn’t when he received a call from his boss on Tuesday morning asking him where he was.

Around 10-15 minutes later, Mitra was at the Cossipore intersection, followed by the youths.

Some of the youths abused the sergeant, saying he had been intercepting trucks at the Cossipore intersection only to take bribes from the drivers. His officer-in-charge was allegedly a passive observer all along.