Two men allegedly overpowered the driver of a Tata Sumo Gold and threw him out of the car before driving off the MUV near College More in Sector V on Wednesday morning. Police said the duo were caught in another part of the township.

The alleged carjackers - Kalyan Mondal, 29, a resident of Sodepur, and Debdas Ghosh, 48, from Hooghly - drove towards the Karunamoyee bus stand after throwing driver Tanmoydeep Sarkar, 28, off the vehicle.

The police swung into action following Tanmoydeep's call to the emergency helpline.

The Bidhannagar police control room alerted all police stations and patrol vehicles and relayed the car's registration number.

The Tata Sumo was finally intercepted at a police checkpost near AA block, some 5.7km from where Kalyan and Debdas had allegedly snatched the car 20 minutes before.

Kalyan and Debdas were arrested based on a complaint lodged by Tanmoydeep.

"The control room asked the personnel at the entry and exit points of Salt Lake to be on alert. The Tata Sumo was intercepted near Salt Lake's gate number 2, near AA block," said Santosh Pandey, deputy commissioner, detective department, Bidhannagar commissionerate.

According to another police officer, the men claimed they were recovery agents of the State Bank of India's Salt Lake branch, to which the car is hypothecated. They claimed the bank had tasked them with taking possession of the car as the owner had defaulted on repaying the loan.

"The two men, however, failed to furnish any documents to back their claims," the officer said.

Kalyan and Debdas have been charged under the IPC sections 384 (extortion) and 34 (common intent). If convicted they can be jailed for three years. The Tata Sumo has been returned to its owner.