Pool car driver shot at in Garden Reach

Updated on: Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Kolkata: A pool car driver was shot at in Garden Reach after an altercation with three youths on Tuesday morning. There were around 10 students in the vehicle at the time of the incident. The bullet grazed the ribs of Vinod Jaiswara (24), the victim; no arrests have been made so far.

Around 6. 30 am, some girls — all students of Garden Reach Kesoram Cotton Mills High School — were waiting for auto-rickshaws at Bandha Battala to take them to school, which is around 3 km away.

Suddenly, three youths arrived on a motorcycle and stopped next to the girls. Two of the girls were Class IX students. “They (youths) told the girls that they would drop them. The girls refused,” a police officer said.

A little later, Vinod arrived in an SUV. The vehicle he was driving is used to take students to the school. Vinod offered them a ride and the girls hopped on.

The vehicle crossed Metiabruz Rajabagan and took a turn on Garden Reach Road when the bike re-appeared and followed the pool car. Initially, the girls couldn’t make out that they were being followed. Vinod saw the bike and sped up.

After reaching an under-construction Metiabruz college, the bike suddenly raced past the SUV and then stopped. Vinod slammed the brakes and asked what was wrong. Two of the riders came close to the vehicle and started abusing him. Vinod got off the vehicle and confronted the youths.

The third youth, who was sitting on the bike, then joined his friends. Some of the girls got off the SUV and headed towards the school, which is close to the spot.

A heated exchange of words continued for some time before it turned into a violent altercation. One of the youths then took out a single-shotter and aimed it towards Vinod. The single-shotter went off and the bullet grazed the driver’s ribs; Vinod fell on the road.

The gunshot alerted locals, but before they could do anything, the accused youths escaped leaving the bike behind. “I was on my way to school when I heard a gunshot. At the spot, I saw blood coming out of a man’s body. The girls were very scared and I took them to school,” said Krishna Kumar Pandey, life science teacher at the school.

The motorcycle, which was seized by the police, had a false number. The owner was traced to a Tiljala locality. Police suspect the bike had been stolen. “A search has been launched for the suspects,” said Jawed Shamim, joint commissioner of police (HQ).

The accused are suspected to have come from the Rabindranagar-Nadial area.

Pool car driver shot at in Garden Reach

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