Terror ride in stolen red beacon car

The car stolen from the Alipurduar subdivisional office being
pushed to roadside after it hit an autorickshaw on Thursday.
Picture by Anirban Choudhury

TT, Alipurduar, May 8: A car of the Alipurduar subdivisional office lifted from the compound by a youth scythed through the town at noon today, knocking down a traffic divider and smashing into an autorickshaw.

The youth, Narayan Roy of Chengpara here, was arrested but not before he had been roughed up by the local people. He rode the car with its red beacon flashing and siren screaming.

Roy’s head was smashed against the car bonnet by the attackers and he is under treatment at the Alipurduar subdivisional hospital. The driver of the autorickshaw, Goutam Das, was injured and given preliminary treatment at the subdivisional hospital.

Sources said the Ambassador belonged to the car pool of the SDO and the additional district magistrate of Alipurduar had come to his office in this vehicle today.

“The car was parked on the SDO office’s compound with doors unlocked and keys inside. Around noon, a youth took over the car and drove it outside the compound of the SDO’s office. The car’s red beacon was flashing and siren screaming. The car first rode around the army’s Parade Ground located near the SDO’s office and then set out for Alipurduar Chowpathi,” said a police source.

“The car was going at a very high speed. After covering 3km, it knocked down a divider at a traffic point and took the left turn. The marauding vehicle then rammed into an autorickshaw that was waiting for passengers. In the impact of the collision, the three-wheeler hit an empty autorickshaw parked in front of it at Chowpathi,” added the source.

The car screeched to a halt after hitting the autorickshaw. Roy was brought out of the car by the local people who thrashed him and banged his head against the vehicle’s bonnet.

“The people didn’t know that the car had been stolen. Otherwise, the youth would have been in more trouble. Police reached the spot and took away the driver,” said the source.

Dinesh Choudhury, a trader, said he had seen a car speeding with a red beacon on and siren wailing. “As the car was moving very fast, people ran away and other vehicles made way. At first, I thought that some senior officer was inside the car. Then, I wondered whether senior officers would be travelling in an Ambassador these days,” he said.

Akash Magharia, the additional superintendent of police, Alipurduar, expressed doubt that the arrested youth was mentally unsound. “We have arrested Narayan Roy who tried to flee with the car. We started an investigation and I think he has some mental problems. We have to probe further. The youth has been admitted to a hospital with head injuries,” said the ASP.

The SDO, Nikhil Nirmal, said a probe would be conducted to find out why the original driver of the Ambassador had left the car on the compound with the door unlocked and keys inside. “If the probe shows that there was negligence on the part of the driver, action will be taken against him,” said Nirmal.