Asok Kumar Dasgupta, 61, a retired college teacher, was crushed by a tram after he tripped and fell on the tracks at Mudiali, off the intersection of Lake Avenue and SP Mukherjee Road.
The accident occurred around 12.45 pm on Tuesday. The tram was headed towards Tollygunge from Howrah.
Police said a similar accident had occurred on the spot a few months ago, when a woman had been the victim.
Former head of the department of physics at Behrampore Girls' College, Dasgupta had reached the city barely an hour earlier from Behrampore and was on his way to meet his ailing daughter-in-law.
With a box of cake held in one hand and a briefcase in the other, Dasgupta had not noticed the tram, on route no. 30, trundling towards him, when he tripped on the tracks and fell, witnesses said.