Calcutta, May 20: A man lay gasping for breath and groaning in pain on the banks of Dhakuria Lake. A few feet away, couples cosied up, munching popcorn and oblivious of the man behind them.

On a day a traffic constable risked his life to save a boy from a speeding car, the city bared its other face, cold and cruel.

There were several people around today when 32-year-old Rabi Mandal attempted suicide by gulping down poison. Soon, froth was coming out of his mouth and he fell on the grass writhing in pain.

But none of them came to his help nor did they bother to inform police.

Two officers from Lake police station, Shantanu Majumdar and D. Mahato, who were patrolling the place noticed Rabi and took him to M.R. Bangur Hospital around 1.30 pm.

Doctors confirmed that Rabi, a resident of Diamond Harbour, had attempted suicide. Ashim Mandal, who attended to Rabi, said that had he been brought to the hospital five minutes later, saving him would have been impossible.

Rabi responded to treatment in the evening, the doctors said.

“He was groaning, and everyone sitting there saw it. Some of them even walked away because they found the noise disturbing. It was shocking to see young lovers sitting and chatting while a person was dying a few feet away,” said one of the officers who took Rabi to hospital.

He said some of them admitted to seeing Mahato drink poison from a small bottle. But when asked why they did nothing to help the man, they had no answer, the officer said.