Chase-death: Mom goes to HC, seeks fresh probe

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted leave to the mother of the event management professional victim who died in a road accident at Panagarh on Feb 24 to file her petition praying for a thorough investigation into the accident.The victim's mother, Tanushree Chatterjee, moved the high court after being dissatisfied with the police investigation into the incident. Chatterjee, in her petition, stated that the police were looking at the matter as an incident of rash driving, leaving out the teasing element that resulted in the chasing of the car that led to the accident.Justice Tirthankar Ghosh granted leave to the mother to file her petition, which is likely to be taken up for hearing soon.The victim, Sutandra Chatterjee, a resident of Chinsurah, was travelling with three colleagues to Gaya for a function when the accident took place at Panagarh. Two of the other passengers suffered serious injuries.According to Asansol-Durgapur Police, the victim's car had refuelled at a petrol pump and was "following the other vehicle". Cops have dismissed the teasing claim.Counsel for the petitioner, Suparna Datta, said: "This defies logic. Why should someone chase a car without reason? The other striking thing is all the passengers in Sutandra's car were injured while persons in the other car didn't sustain any injury," Datta said.The counsel also claimed to have the video clips with her in which the complaint of teasing would get a foundation. "The video clips show two persons, Mintu Mandal and Pradip Datta, who went on record stating that persons from the car were making lewd remarks towards Sutandra. I am ready to produce the video clip to the court," Datta said.The counsel for the petitioner was also curious about what was happening between the time when the accident took place and the next morning when Mintu Mandal broke the news of Sutandra's death to one of her relatives. "The police didn't inform the victim's mother. It was Mintu Mandal who broke the news to one of Sutandra's relatives over phone. If this was a simple road accident, why did the police shy away from informing the victim's family?" Datta said.Sutandra's mother, Tanushree, after returning from the high court, told TOI that she had lodged a complaint with the Chandernagore Police Station against the accused on March 1. "Police didn't even interrogate the accused. They arrested only the driver of the SUV," the mother said. The mother couldn't understand under what circumstances the driver of Sutandra's car, Rajdeo Singh, made a statement to police and later changed it.