The taxi driver stopped his vehicle on the roadside, walked past the bonnet and opened the front passenger door. With great difficulty, he carried the passenger and dragged him out. There was hardly any resistance from the passenger in the whole process. The driver left the passenger on the roadside and drove away.

Later, the passenger, when taken to Helping Hands Community Hospital nearby, doctors pronounced him dead. He was identified as 60-year-old Gopal Karanjit of Gokarneshwor-4.

The minute-long episode in Chabahil, Kathmandu on Wednesday afternoon was captured on the hospital’s CCTV.

Karanjit, accompanied by his son Prabin, had visited Medicare Hospital and undergone electrocardiogram test the same day. To protect his ailing father from the dust along the Chabahil streets, Prabin had sent his father in the taxi and rode home on a scooter.

Upon reaching home, Prabin received a call from an unknown number, and to his extreme shock, he learnt of his father’s death.

According to a police source, the post-mortem report showed Gopal had died of a heart attack.

It is learnt that Gopal suffered heart attack while in the taxi and collapsed. The panic-stricken taxi driver pulled Gopal out of the taxi and left him on the road.

A passersby called police who took him to the hospital.

Police recovered ATM card from Gopal’s possession and called the bank and found out his son’s phone number.

How the police arrested taxi driver?

Police launched an investigation based on a complaint filed at the Metropolitan Police Circle. During investigation, police came across the CCTV footage available from Helping Hands Hospital where the driver is clearly seen dragging the unconscious man out of the vehicle and leaving him on the road before driving off.

The Metropolitan Police Circle sought help of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Office after the taxi number was not clearly identifiable. Through a special software, police enhanced the image to identify the taxi number (Ba 1 Kha 3851) and arrested the taxi driver who was then identified as Kamal Shrestha.

Shrestha in his statement to police said that he got confused after the passenger started displaying unusual behaviour and left the passenger on the road and ran away to avoid “any unwanted hassles”.

Police have lodged a public offence case against Shrestha.

The deceased’s neighbour, Nabaraj Shrestha, told the Post that a minor mistake of the driver resulted in the death of  a man.

“There was a chance of survival if the driver had taken him to the nearby hospital which was just a hundred metres away,” said Shrestha.

Shrestha also pointed out at hospital’s possible fault in this incident which had just discharged a patient following treatment.

Police involved in the investigation said that the Medicare Hospital seems to have discharged the patient terming his health normal. Further investigation will be carried out, police informed.

The family performed the last rites of the deceased later in the day.