KOLKATA: A cabby allegedly threw an unidentified fluid on six people near Panditiya Road in south Kolkata on Sunday night before being overpowered by bystanders. He, however, bit one of his captors and fled.
He threw the fluid on two sisters walking home with a male friend from a moving taxi.
TOI visited the area on Monday, to be informed by locals that he had earlier thrown some fluid on three other women between
Fort Oasis and Palazzo Apartments, less than 300 metres apart.
Cops are yet to establish what the fluid was, but preliminary investigation ruled out the possibility of acid. Locals chased and stopped the car but the driver escaped by biting one of his captors. Police later seized the car but the driver on the run.
Cops said the two sisters, aged 23 and 19, were walking towards their home with a 23-year-old male friend around 9.15pm when the taxi driver coming from the opposite end threw the fluid at them.
“I was walking towards home when I saw the driver take out a bottle from the window and sprinkle something at us. The moment it fell on my face, there was burning sensation and my face started itching. I sat on the road,” said the 23-year-old girl on Monday.
The locals and security guards from an adjacent building came to her help, suspecting it to be acid. Locals washed her face to ensure the chemical had no effect on the skin. The fluid, which had also fallen on the friend’s shirt, discoloured it.
“Preliminary findings say the fluid was non-corrosive in nature and doesn’t seem to be acid. We have sent samples for forensic test,” said an officer of the Rabindra Sarobar police station.
“The driver’s home is in Kalighat but he was not found there. We are tracking his cellphone and are trying to arrest him,” said the officer.
The spot where the cabby threw the unknown chemical at the women.