A scooter rider was allegedly beaten to death by a group of civic police volunteers at Madhyamgram in North 24 Paraganas district on Saturday.

Soumen Debnath, a local businessman, was assaulted by the group following an altercation over not wearing helmet. Mr.Debnath was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries. The incident comes at a time when the State Government is promoting its ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ initiative to ensure road safety and the police are enforcing helmet use.

“There was a scuffle between Mr. Debnath and some civic volunteers over violation of traffic rules. He was rushed to a local hospital where doctors declared him dead,” Superintendent of Police of North 24 Paraganas C. Sudhakar said. They were waiting for the post mortem report. One person had been arrested so far and a case had been lodged under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.

The incident created outrage among the locals, who chased the civic police volunteers. Some of the volunteers climbed on to the ledge of a nearby building’s window to save themselves from the angry mob. The locals also blocked an adjoining road for several hours and threw stones at the police, who resorted to baton charge to disperse the crowd.