The hit-and-run happened around 11 pm at Bijon Setu, a bridge just near Gariahat in south Kolkata.
A man claiming to be a leader of Trinamool's student body allegedly hit a pavement dweller in Kolkata last night with his car. He hit another car as he fled which in turn hit a taxi. He would have escaped but for SP Suryavanshi, a police officer from Bokaro, who gave chase and caught the offending vehicle.
"I saw a Scorpio dashing two cars. Local people chased it but it sped off. I went to the spot and saw people were injured," said Mr Suryavanshi. "I chased the car for about a kilometer and then caught hold of him. I informed police control room and the local police station. To my surprise, it took 35 minutes for the police to respond," he added.
However, the alleged driver of the Scorpio was produced in court and let off on a bail of Rs 500. It was only after he was freed that the police confirmed that the man he had hit had died.
"When we took the accused to court, we were not aware that the victim was dead. When we got to know, we did not have a death certificate, so we couldn't change the charges against him," said Solomon V Nesakumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
"But now we will approach the court and amend the charges to include Section 304A which is culpable homicide not amounting to murder," Mr Solomon said. "However, even 304A is a bailable offence," he added.
The hit-and-run happened around 11 pm at Bijon Setu, a bridge just near Gariahat in south Kolkata. Kanishka Mukherjee, who is in his late 20s, was allegedly behind the wheels of a Scorpio and speeding. He hit a traffic guard rail and ran over a man lying on the pavement.
Trinamool Chatra Parishad chief Ashok Rudra distanced the party from Mukherjee. "He used to hang around at the office some years ago," Mr Rudra said, adding, "But I have not seen him around lately and he was never an office bearer."
Several people, however, heard Mukherjee telling the police that he was a general secretary of the Trinamool Chatri Parishad. There were several Trinamool badges and papers in his car.
Opposition parties are not convinced. "If the victim died at 7 in the morning, how could the police not know till 1 in the afternoon? Should we believe this?" asked Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya of CPM.
"Mukherjee is being given protection because he is associated with the ruling party," he said.