Youth dies after pilot car in Trinamool Congress MLA’s hits motorbike

A vehicle of Kolkata Police, whose registration certificate (RC) had expired almost a year ago, fatally hit a motorcycle rider on Tuesday (September 3, 2025) at Bamanghata area in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district.

The police vehicle was part of a convoy of Saokat Molla, Trinamool Congress MLA from Canning Purba, and the motorcycle rider Mohammad Tajuddin who was a resident of Kareya area in the city succumbed to injuries at a State-run hospital.

According to reports, there was a head on collision and both the police vehicle and the motorbike were damaged in the accident.

The police vehicle, which was the pilot car of the MLA’s convoy, was registered on August 19, 2009 and the vehicle’s registration certificate and fitness were valid for 15 years till August 2024. Though the vehicle should have been taken off the roads about a year ago, it was still serving as a pilot car of an MLAs convoy.

The accident raised questions as to how could police vehicles flout the rules. Members of civil society raised questions as to how many police vehicles with expired registration certificates are plying on Kolkata Streets posing risk to people and vehicles on the streets.

The mother of the victim raised questions as to how old police vehicles are allowed on the roads.

The development came on the same day Kolkata Police had apprehended a truck of the Indian Army for “reckless driving”. The driver of the Army vehicle, who took a sharp turn near Writer’s Building when vehicle of Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma was passing by, has been booked by Kolkata Police.

Mr. Mollah called the accident unfortunate and said that he will meet the Commissioner of Kolkata Police and urge him that vehicles, which are old and expired, should not be engaged in the convoy.

While the officials of Kolkata Police have not commented on the expired registration certificate of the vehicle, a senior official said that that an investigation has been initiated and the local police station is investigating the accident. The police is also looking at the CCTV footage of the accident.