A portion of AJC Bose Road caved in near its intersection with Shakespeare Sarani on Tuesday evening.

Rain in the evening delayed repairs but Calcutta Municipal Corporation engineers hope to level the stretch by Wednesday morning.

The 2ftX2ft cave-in in the middle of the Mullick Bazaar-bound flank of AJC Bose Road slowed down the evening rush-hour traffic.

"The road caved in around 4pm. We immediately alerted the civic authorities. The engineers inspected the spot and dug open the affected stretch to find out what led to the subsidence," a police officer said.

The area dug up was cordoned off, leading to traffic congestion as vehicles could only move along either side of the cave-in.

A CMC engineer said the reason behind the cave-in could not be identified. The water supply line and the brick sewer under the road had no leaks, he said. "Anyway, we have readied materials required for the repair." He said engineers are expected to complete the repair by Wednesday morning.

A couple of weeks ago, a 1.5ftX1.5ft stretch of the Gariahat-bound flank of Rashbehari Avenue had caved in near the western end of the Ballygunge bridge. A CMC engineer had said sometimes roads caved in without any signs of leak in underground utilities.

Cheat arrest

Biswanath Manna, a resident of Chetla, was arrested on Monday for allegedly forging the signatures of his mother and younger brother and withdrawing Rs 57 lakh from their demat accounts.

Man attacked

Harihar Das, 50, a cobbler, was attacked with a knife near the city police headquarters at Lalbazar on Tuesday. He is being treated at a hospital.