Day after texting brother about new job, Kolkata girl dies in UK hit-and-run

London/Kolkata: Anisha Chakraborty texted her brother Raktim in the US from Birmingham last Friday to say she had good news to share. The 28-year-old from Kolkata’s Mukundapur had been job-hunting after completing her master’s with distinction at Aston University and had just made it to the final round of an interview.

Raktim, who is based in Arkansas, replied to his sister on Saturday morning. The text wasn’t delivered. He would hear later that Anisha had been run over by a black Audi RSQ8 on Dartmouth Middleway in Birmingham city centre, a short walk from her accommodation, just after 2am local time.

Anisha had gone out on Friday night to a pub with former university friends. She and a friend walked back together before splitting midway. She was alone and almost home when the car hit her.

Four days later, Anisha’s Indian-origin boss at the restaurant where she had been working part-time is running a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to cover the cost of repatriating her body to Kolkata. Till late Wednesday, crowdfunding contributions totalled a little over £16,000 (Rs 20.5 lakh).

In Kolkata, Anisha and Raktim’s father Ramkrishna Prasad Chakraborty, principal of KK Das College at Patuli on the southeastern outskirts, said every moment of waiting for his daughter’s body to arrive was tortuous. “She was so excited about the job. She was looking forward to a new phase in her life,” he said. “My wife hasn’t spoken to anyone since getting the news.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service in the UK said it received multiple 999 calls at 2.17am Saturday, reporting a collision between a car and a pedestrian. Two ambulances, two paramedic officers and a MERIT trauma team responded. Anisha was dead by then.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving under the influence of drugs. Police told TOI Wednesday that he had received bail with conditions while the investigation continues.

The Chakraborty family had been in regular contact with Anisha until Friday evening. “After that, there was no contact. On Saturday morning, one of her friends informed us that she had met with an accident,” her father said.

Raktim told TOI that he had lost not just a younger sister but someone he treated like a daughter, being eight years older. “We had planned a video call during the weekend that never happened,” Raktim said. “She wanted to do something on her own. I told her to come to the US but she wanted to go to the UK as she had researched all the universities there and decided this master’s would help her career.”

Anisha studied at Sakhawat Memorial Govt Girls’ School and graduated from Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College in Kolkata. She moved to the UK in Sept 2024 to pursue a master’s in international business. In July 2025, she started working at Jimmy Spices, a global buffet restaurant on Broad Street in Birmingham. After getting her graduate visa, she switched to working in the cafe downstairs so she could concentrate on applying for full-time jobs in marketing and content writing.

Shefali Karulkar, general manager at Jimmy Spices, recounted how Anisha “always had her laptop on in the café”.

“Whenever I spoke to her, she would always tell me she was job-hunting. She was a lovely person, so positive and kind-hearted.”