Lawyer accused of killing man for protesting honking arrested

A lawyer, who had allegedly slapped a sexagenarian for protesting excessive honking which led to his death, was arrested after he surrendered at a police station here on Monday, four-days after the incident took place, a police officer said.

On October 17, Ramesh Behl (62) fainted and fell on the ground after the accused lawyer, who was driving a car behind the deceased's car, allegedly slapped him when Behl protested excessive honking, the officer said.

Behl was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The accused lawyer, who was absconding since the incident happened on Thursday went to the Bhowanipore police station on Monday morning along with his advocate and was arrested after brief grilling, the police said.

"The incident happened at around 1 PM on October 17, when Behl, resident of Bhowanipore's Bakulbagan area was getting into his car and another vehicle started honking from behind to give way. And when Behl protested the accused driver came out of his car slapped and pushed him following which the old man fell on the ground and fainted," the police officer said.

Behl's driver took him to the nearby hospital while the accused fled the spot, he added.

Police had a tough time identifying the vehicle since there was no CCTV in the area where the mishap happened.

The accused lawyer was booked under IPC section 304 (whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder) as per the complaint lodged by Behl's driver at the Bhowanipore police station.

To raise awareness among people about the ill-effects of noise pollution, the Kolkata Traffic Police had in August this year launched a 'No Horn' campaign.

Over 3,000 people were fined for excessive honking during the campaign.