The person driving a white Creta at break-neck speed early on Monday, which allegedly caused another car to crash and killed event manager Sutandra Chatterjee, 26, was arrested on Thursday from Andal, making this the first arrest in the case.
Kanksa police arrested accused Bablu Yadav was arrested nearly four days after the incident came to light in West Burdwan’s Kanksa, almost 153km from Calcutta.
“Bablu was arrested from Andal. We will press for his custody to interrogate him about the incident,” said Abhishek Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (east) of Asansol Durgapur police commissionerate.
Scrap dealer Bablu, who hails from Panagarh near Kanksa, will be produced in court on Friday.
Preliminary police investigation revealed Bablu was driving the white Creta with at least three others on board on NH19, formerly known as Delhi-Calcutta road.
Sutandra, who ran an event management company, was headed for Gaya from her house in Chandernagore around 12.30am on Monday in the Tiago when the crash happened. Sutandra’s car went off the highway and took a service road through Panagarh and Kanksa after Bablu allegedly chased her car with him and his associates shouting “lewd” comments at her.
The SUV allegedly hit the blue Tiago, with Sutandra seated beside the driver, twice. The SUV allegedly continued to chase the Tiago. Finally, the Tiago hit a wall off NH19 at Kanksa and turned turtle. Sutandra died but four others in her car, including the driver, escaped nearly unhurt.
Police found Bablu’s Creta near the accident site and started to search for its owner.
An FIR drawn up in the case stated the incident took place “at about 00.30 hours”
on Monday.
“Bablu has been arrested under several charges including rash driving on public roads, an act endangering lives of others, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and damage or wrongful loss to individuals or public,” said a senior officer of Kanksa
police station.
Police have till now maintained there was no incident of any eve-teasing contrary to what occupants in Sutandra’s car claimed soon after the incident.
With the occupants of the blue Tiago claiming that Bablu’s white Creta chased them and CCTV footage with the police showing otherwise, the police said they would like to reconstruct the scheme of events leading to the accident that killed Sutandra.
“We want Bablu in our custody so that we can reconstruct how the accident exactly took place,” Gupta, the deputy police commissioner, said.
Others accompanying Bablu in the SUV are yet to be traced. Police said they were on the lookout for them.
Sutandra’s mother Tanusree Chatterjee, who has been critical of the police’s role so far, said on Thursday that she expected a fair investigation into the case and that Bablu’s associates should be rounded up.
“If it is to be believed that the accident was a fallout of a chase or due to overspeeding, the police should arrest all those who were in the Creta. Officers have questioned those accompanying my daughter in the Tiago. But what about interrogating those in the other car?” she asked. “If they are not involved in anything then they should speak up.”
Bablu’s advocate Sajal Saha said his client had fled to Uttar Pradesh after the incident. Saha said he advised Bablu to return and surrender to the police.
“My client has never been involved in any case of eve-teasing or something close to that. He doesn’t belong to such a family. The charges against him are not true,” Saha claimed. “Bablu was advised to surrender and he was on the way when the police arrested him in Andal.”
