An elderly man was found lying in the middle of a busy road in Kalighat on Monday afternoon and was later declared dead at a hospital, police said.

Officers suspect that the man was either hit by a vehicle or had collapsed on his own.

An investigation has been initiated, a police officer said.

Passersby spotted the person lying on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road, close to the Hazra crossing, around 1pm on Monday, the police said.

“As the signal turned green, vehicles started to move along SP Mukherjee Road. A few seconds later, an elderly man was found lying in the middle of the road amid the passing vehicles. He was removed from the spot and taken to SSKM Hospital, where he was declared dead by doctors,” said an officer of the traffic department.

The police said the elderly person’s identity could not be established till late on Monday evening.

CCTV cameras installed in the area are being scanned to establish the exact sequence of events and to check how the elderly man reached the spot, a police officer said.

The body has been sent for a postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.

Thousands of vehicles ply through SP Mukherjee every day.

According to police officers, the road was crowded with vehicles at the time of the incident.