The incident took place in the afternoon when taxi driver Manmohan Jadhav was allegedly assaulted by Calcutta Traffic Guard head constable Nepalchandra Banerjee for parking his car in a no-parking zone.

“The taxi was parked in a no-parking zone on Kiran Shankar Roy Road. When Nepalchandra attempted to fix a clamp on the taxi, the driver resisted and pushed him. Then the constable slapped him, which drew the anger of the crowd,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (administration) Pradip Chatterjee.

According to eyewitness Subrata Dutta, an employee in the High Court, the constable pulled Jadhav out of the taxi and began thrashing him. “After fixing the clamp, the constable hit him repeatedly, and beat him up with his helmet,” Dutta said.

Sensing the mood of the angry mob, the constable escaped inside a chemist shop and called his colleagues for help. Police then came and took away the constable. The police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd, eyewitnesses said.

“The taxi driver was taken to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, from where he was discharged after first aid. His statement was recorded at the Hare Street police station, in which he has said his vehicle was in a no-parking zone,” Chatterjee said.

Later, Trinamool leaders like Partha Chatterjee, Madan Mitra, Sougata Roy and Sudip Bandyopadhyay arrived at the spot and protested against the police “high handedness.”

“All taxis in the city will run with black cloth tied to the meter on Wednesday. If any taxi is stopped tomorrow, taxi-drivers will go on an indefinite strike,” Mitra said, berating the Left Front government as “anti-people”.