Trapped between ‘racing’ buses, 44-year-old run over at Exide
Times of India | 25 February 2025
12 Kolkata: A 44-year-old woman from Netaji Colony in Baranagar was run over by a private bus near the Exide crossing that took a sharp right turn, allegedly racing with another bus, while the victim coming in between the two vehicles.
The victim, identified as Reshmi Roy, was reportedly trying to cross the road opposite Maidan Police Station around 9.10 am.
The killer private bus, plying on route 222 (Bonhooghly-Behala Chowrasta), then reportedly fled towards Chowringhee-Park Street, with the passengers still sitting inside the bus. It was later that cops traced the bus and arrested the driver from north Kolkata. According to police and family members, Roy was working as a contractual employee with a cosmetics brand.
"Roy was either standing on the road or began crossing the road when two buses from the Chowringhee end of JL Nehru Road turned towards AJC Bose Road to move towards PTS. The woman got trapped as the 222 bus swerved towards the left lane (usually taken by Esplanade-Howrah-bound buses) instead of the right lane (adjoining Calcutta Club) under the AJC Bose Flyover.It seems it was racing with another bus. As a last effort to save herself, she tried to run. However, she realised another bus blocked the road. She fell on the right corner of the bus, and the wheel ran over her. She was rushed to SSKM Hospital, where she was declared dead. The driver realised his mistake and immediately drove at full speed towards Nandan and then took another right back towards Birla Planetarium," claimed a witness.
The police, though, claimed that Roy fell in the blind spot of the bus driver. A South Traffic Guard cop hinted at jaywalking in complete disregard of the pedestrian signal. "She was standing in front of the pay-and-use toilet but suddenly decided to walk across. The bus was not speeding when the accident took place," claimed the investigating officer.
"We have three drop gates that have been set up at Calcutta Club-Rabindra Sadan metro station, Maidan PS and Haldiram. Our effort is on AJC Bose Road that witnesses huge crossovers. But pedestrians tend to cross at their own risk, making both AJC Bose Road and JL Nehru Road extremely accident-prone," said an officer.
Lalbazar said that they were looking into CCTV footage to ascertain the exact sequence of events.