The 26-year-old woman riding a blue Tiago that turned turtle in Panagarh in the early hours of Monday in the aftermath of an alleged chase had possibly died because of a severe head injury, a preliminary post-mortem report showed.

The skull of Sutandra Chatterjee bore signs of a traumatic brain injury from external mechanical force with linear and fissured fractures and there were no signs of significant injuries on the body, sources said.

The post-mortem was carried out at the Durgapur subdivisional hospital hours
after the accident killed Sutandra. Four others accompanying her, including the car’s driver, Rajdeo Sharma, escaped unhurt.

A section of forensic experts said there could be different types of injuries to a victim of a car crash with and without the seat belt on.

“When the passenger beside the driver has the seat belt on, the body remains strapped and firm. But the body part from the neck onwards, right up to the head remains flexible and takes most of the collision impact,” said a senior forensic expert in Calcutta.

Experts said model Sonika Singh Chauhan had died in a car accident because she did not have her seat belt on. Sonika died in a car crash in 2017 when the car she was in with actor Vikram Chatterjee crashed along Rashbehari Avenue in Calcutta on April 29.

Police said they would try and reconstruct the series of events leading to the accident and added that the final post-mortem report outlining the cause of the victim’s death in the car crash would be vital.

“We are awaiting the final post-mortem report of the victim,” a senior officer of the Asansol Durgapur police commissionerate said. “The final report will be a vital document for the investigating officer of the case.”

The owner of an event management company based out of Chandernagore Sutandra was on her way to Gaya for work on a blue Tiago when a white Creta allegedly chased the vehicle in the early hours of Monday.

After the car crashed and turned turtle, the driver of the Tiago had alleged that the occupants of the SUV made indecent gestures to Sutandra, seated beside him in the car, and even indulged in eve-teasing.

The police refuted the eve-teasing claim and said the two vehicles were involved in overspeeding and released CCTV grabs that showed the blue Tiago following the white Creta at breakneck speed down Rice Mill Road in Kanksa in Panagarh, nearly 153 kilometres from Calcutta, before turning turtle.

On Friday, Sutandra’s driver, Sharma, said he was following “madam’s” orders on the fateful night and chasing the white Creta at breakneck speed before the accident occurred and the car turned turtle.

“Their car had hit ours on the way. We wanted it to stop and the owner to pay compensation,” Sharma told reporters.

The police have so far arrested only one person in this case — Bablu Yadav, the owner of the white Creta who was also behind the wheel on the fateful night.

Yadav was produced in a court and remanded in two days of police custody. The police prayed for his custody to trace others accompanying him in the white Creta.

On his way to the court, Yadav said he was not involved in any crime, including eve-teasing and making lewd gestures to Sutandra. He fled because of the hype that followed the accident.

Sutandra’s mother Tanushree wondered why the police were yet to question those who had accompanied Bablu in the car.

“I don’t trust anyone now. The truth is yet to emerge about how my daughter died in a car crash. Police have revealed only a few CCTV images. But what about those before the accident? Why have they not questioned those inside the other car?” Tanushree asked.