A son’s delay in making his daily phone call to his elderly parents cost him his mother’s life in a cruel twist of fate that played out at a busy intersection in Salt Lake’s Sector V.

Anxiety-wracked Asim Das, 70, and his wife Arati, 60, had set off from their home in Panihati in North 24-Parganas after their younger son Anup failed to call them up at
the appointed hour on Wednesday morning at their neighbour’s house.

The elderly couple don’t have a mobile phone.

Deciding against waiting for their son’s call and fearing he was missing, the elderly couple left for Salt Lake where he lived on his own.

Arati was hit by a bus at College More in Sector V while trying to cross the road after stepping off the pavement, possibly unaware that the signal was still green. The bus brushed against Asim, who suffered injuries.

Both were rushed to Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Hospital, where Arati died during treatment.

College More, a major intersection in the heart of the IT hub, remains crowded throughout the day.

An eyewitness said the bus, going from Calcutta towards Salt Lake, ploughed into the woman while taking a turn.

“The couple had told their neighbours that they were going to see a doctor and
then visit their younger son,” said an officer of Bidhannagar city police.

The police said they had located Anup and his elder brother Amit Das, and that neither was reported missing.

“Amit lives close to their Panihati home. Anup, who recently lost his wife, stays in New Town,” the officer said.

Asim told the police that he had no clue where in Salt Lake Anup worked or lived, and he had not visited his parents “for the last two years”.

The police said they were scanning CCTV footage to determine if the bus had flouted traffic light regulations.

The bus has been impounded and its driver arrested by officers of the Electronic Complex police station.

The fatal crash came a day after a girl riding pillion on a bike lost an arm after her bag got entangled with a bus and she was flung onto the road in New Town.