June 24: A car bringing home a Reserve Bank officer posted in Mumbai crashed into a Matador van while trying to avoid a pothole in Nadia today.

Rakhi Chatterjee, 37, the schoolteacher wife of Sadhan Chatterjee was killed. The bank officer and his two daughters are in hospital.

Their driver’s helper, who could not be identified, was also crushed to death.

Police said the accident occurred on a perilous stretch of National Highway 34 in Chakdah, 60km from Calcutta.

“The collision took place around 9.30am, when driver Prasenjit Dey suddenly realised how deep the pothole was and tried to steer away,” said Chakdah police station inspector-in-charge Debabrata Ojha.

“The driver tried to escape hitting the hole, lost control and hit the wire-laden Matador coming from the opposite direction.”

Sadhan, 40, Rakhi, Madhumanti, 7, and Damayanti, 3, had taken the Ambassador from Howrah station, where they arrived by Mumbai Mail this morning.

Rakhi, a teacher at Bhagabangola Girls’ High School near Behrampore, had gone to her husband with the children during summer vacation.

Sadhan and the girls have been admitted to a private hospital in Calcutta.

Dey is in a critical condition in a Kalyani hospital. The Matador driver fled.

Tea stall owner Biswajit Saha said: “We stopped a passing van and took the injured to Kalyani.”

Additional Nadia district magistrate Motaleb Ali Sardar admitted that the highway was in a poor shape. “We have had a series of meetings with the National Highway Authority of India. They have assured us that the stretch will be repaired soon,” he said.

Deathtrap on road

In Calcutta, a couple were seriously injured tonight as their motorcycle hit a pothole and overturned near the airport.

Police could not immediately identify the man, aged about 35, and the woman, in her late 20s. They were both wearing helmets and going towards Madhyamgram through Jessore Road.