Woman dies in accident after drunk highway chase in Bengal: 'Lewd gestures, multiple collisions'

The victim has been identified as Sutandra Chatterjee (27), a Hooghly resident, who ran an event management company and managed a dance troupe. (Image by arrangement)

A 27-year-old woman, an event manager and dancer by profession and the sole bread-winner of her family, died in an accident in the wee hours on Monday when her vehicle overturned off NH19 in Panagarh, Kanksa, after being allegedly chased by drunken goons in West Burdwan district of West Bengal.

The victim, identified as Sutandra Chatterjee, was a resident of Chandernagore in Hooghly and ran an event management company in Gaya, Bihar, besides managing a dance troupe. She is survived by her ailing mother and two grandmothers. Her father, a singer by profession, died of cancer eight months ago.

Chatterjee, seated in the front passenger seat, bled to death while two of her colleagues sustained injuries. She was on her way to Gaya where her event management company is based. Police have seized both cars but are yet to make any arrests in the matter.

According to Durgapur-Asansol police commissioner Sunil Kumar Choudhary, the accident occurred as a result of an overtaking attempt gone wrong. "We have studied CCTV footage and have found that trouble arose when a white car, while overtaking the woman's car, grazed it. As per CCTV footage, the woman's car was chasing the other vehicle and met with the accident leading to the woman's death. We have initiated a case based on the complaint by one of the occupants of the car the woman was travelling in," he said.

'Lewd gestures, multiple collisions'

However, Chatterjee's colleagues Mintu Mondal -- on whose complaint the police filed the case -- and driver Rajdeo Sharma claimed that the occupants of the white car had been harassing Chatterjee before ramming their car multiple times over a 10-km stretch.

Times Of India quoted the driver as saying that there were five men in the car who constantly honked and made obscene gestures at Chatterjee while driving next to their car. "They kept overtaking us and then allowing us to go ahead. They chased us till Panagarh, during which there were multiple collisions between our cars," driver Sharma told TOI.

As per the complaint, the occupants of the white car appeared drunk and fled after waiting a while at the accident spot. Empty liquor bottles and disposable glasses were also found inside the car that the youths abandoned while fleeing the spot.

Police deny harassment claims

The Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner, however, dismissed the allegations of harassment and lewd behavior, claiming that the “unfortunate” accident occurred following a race between two cars.

“No lewd behaviour or harassment was reported to us. We have learnt from CCTV footage that the blue Tiago of the deceased was chasing the white SUV,” commissioner Choudhury said, according to The Telegraph.

Family cries foul

Chatterjee's mother, Tanusree Chatterjee, however, refused to buy the arguments put out by the police and expressed anguish at the law and order situation in the state. "I lost my husband to cancer just eight months ago. My daughter meant the world to me. Now, I have lost my entire world. Had there been proper policing on the highway, the incident could have been averted,” she said.

“Wherever such incidents happen in the state, the police try to hide something. Where is the safety and security of women? What is the administration doing? Not one arrest yet,” she said.

The police, meanwhile, maintain that they are probing all angles in the case, stating that they found it suspicious how Chatterjee died on the spot while the other passengers escaped almost unhurt.

Regarding the white SUV, police said it had been purchased in November 2021 and registered at the Durgapur regional transport office against the name of Bablu Yadav, a resident of Panagarh. A car-scrap dealer, Yadav could not be found at his residence, the police said, adding that a case of traffic violation, registered by the Uttar Pradesh police, had been pending against the SUV since last year.

Opposition tears into Mamata govt

The incident and the family's claims of harassment have led to a political uproar with Opposition parties raising fingers at the Trinamool Congress’s governance after this death.

BJP’s chief spokesperson for Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya, said hooligans were ruling Bengal. “They (hooligans) have understood that the government is of the hooligans and by the hooligans. Such incidents will occur regularly,” said the Rajya Sabha member.

CPM state secretary Md Salim claimed yet another woman was harassed and killed in the state after the RG Kar incident where a young doctor was brutally raped and murdered last August.

“This is yet another question mark on women’s safety in the state. There is no safety of the women because of the inaction of the police and the government,” he said, adding that the CPM’s local leaders visited the victim’s mother at Chandernagore.