A Jaguar jumped the red light at 1.50am on Saturday in the heart of the city and crashed into a Mercedes, sending it hurtling into two Bangladeshi visitors waiting near a police kiosk and killing them on the spot, police said.

An initial police assessment of the crash at the Loudon Street-Theatre Road intersection has renewed focus on the heavy price pedestrians and other motorists pay when some drivers step on the gas at night to take advantage of the less-crowded roads.

The accident has also affected two well-known business families in the city. The Jaguar was being driven by Arsalan Parwez, the 21-year-old scion of the Arsalan biryani chain.

The injured occupants of the smashed Mercedes are Amit Kajaria and his wife Kanika. The Kajaria family owns the largest private liquid warehousing business in eastern India.

Such was the impact that the concrete kiosk was smashed out of shape.

The police have arrested Arsalan and booked him on several charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The dead Bangladeshis — both medical tourists waiting to catch a cab to their hotel — have been identified as Kazi Md Mainul Alam, 36, a manager with a telecom service provider in Bangladesh, and bank executive Farhana Islam Tania.

Kajaria, 50, who was driving the Mercedes with Kanika, 44, by his side, suffered multiple injuries. Both have been admitted to the AMRI Dhakuria hospital.

Arsalan had walked away after the crash, leaving the Rs 70-lakh Jaguar F-PACE at the spot, a few feet from Shakespeare Sarani police station.

The vehicle, registered in the name of M/S RAA Arsalan Enterprise Pvt Limited, led the police to Arsalan — an MBA from Edinburgh — who was arrested from his home later on Saturday morning.

Arsalan’s uncle said his nephew had gone to the office of the deputy commissioner (south) to “surrender” on Saturday once the family realised the scale of the accident.

The police denied the family’s version, saying he was picked up from his home.