Sonika Chauhan's friends welcome the news of Vikram's arrest

KOLKATA: Vidhi Khanna was woken by a phone call from a close friend on Friday morning. The news her friend shared was something she had been waiting for the past 69 days. She could not believe that actor Vikram Chatterjee who was driving the car which crashed on 29 April near Lake Market, killing model and television host

Sonika Singh Chauhan

, had been arrested.

“Words are not enough to express what I am feeling right now. It was such a long wait that we were on the verge of losing hope. But the news of the arrest has filled us up with hope that justice will prevail,” said Khanna, an entrepreneur and Sonika’s friend.

Friend and model Tina Mukherjee feels that the arrest is only a step closer for justice to Sonika. “The news is still sinking in. It is the result of relentless fight for justice for our beloved friend,” said Tina.

Sonika’s friends had been mobilising support online to demand justice for Sonika. “We have spent the last 69 days only thinking about her and thinking how to get her justice. The news is too good to be true,” said Ananya Dutta, a classmate of Sonika.

Many of friends termed it karma that he was arrested from the vicinity of Rashbehari Avenue, the very same stretch where the car he was driving had crashed on April 29. “Karma will chase you down. It is not just a co-incidence that the police arrested him from the spot very close to where Sonika had died,” said Vedant Agarwal, a choreographer and Sonika’s friend.

Sonika’s death and the circumstances in which she died had has triggered a clamour for justice for the model turned anchor. Several online petitions accompanied requesting justice for Sonika started doing the rounds of social media to mobilise support. “I was in tears when I heard the news of Vikram’s arrest in the morning,” said Pranaadhika Sinha Devburman, an online petitioner.

The social media timelines of the Sonika’s friends and acquaintances was overflowing with congratulatory messages in no time.