Commuter sprays paint on metro door, authorities seek police help
The Statesman | 24 July 2025
An unidentified commuter spraying black paint on a Metro door has alerted the city Metro authorities, who have approached the Kolkata Police for help.
The incident has been captured in the CCTV camera of one of the coaches of a rake. A video showing the incident inside the coach is that of the Blue Line wherein a man is seen walking past the commuters, who were fewer in number. The man with a backpack in front is seen moving forward towards the seats that are empty. The commuter, who appears to be a middle-aged man then quickly opens up the spray paint can, stoops down and makes criss-cross patterns on the door between the two empty seats. He then moves back a little to check he was being observed by someone. On finding that the commuters were busy, he repeats the same act. After spraying the black paint on the door, he then moves ahead and goes away.
The video was shared by the Kolkata Metro Railway authorities today. As seen in the footage, the incident occurred on 26 June at around 7.14 p.m. The occurrence of such an act has alerted the metro authorities, who are trying to analyse as to what could have been the intentions of the man. Whether the commuter sprayed the black just for littering the door or he was trying to make the marks with some particular intentions, is being analysed.
But what has shocked the authorities and triggered concerns in them is the fact that the irresponsive behaviour of the co-passengers. While the man was spraying the paint, a commuter is seen sitting nearby but he was engrossed in his mobile.
The Kolkata Metro Railway officials have made the footage public urging the people to respond to such acts being committed by their co-passengers and prevent the recurrence of such incidents. “By showing this video, we want to appeal to the people to stop their co-passengers from carrying out such acts inside metro premises. They can also report the matter to the railway protection forces deployed at the Metro railway premises,” said an official of the city Metro.
The authorities are also considering writing to the commissioner of Kolkata Police on the incident.