The lone survivor of the VIP Road crash is the car’s driver, a 20-year-old graduate who was admitted to hospital with a “depressed skull fracture” and has been unconscious since the accident early on Monday.
Ankit Kumar Mahato, 20, who was driving the car in which Shivshankar Rathi, Kamala Rathi and Shrivatsa Rathi were travelling, is now at RG Kar hospital.
Doctors said his condition was critical.
“He has suffered a depressed skull fracture. A portion of his skull has fractured and got inserted into his brain. We are waiting for him to stabilise before performing any surgical procedure,” said an official at RG Kar.
Ankit’s father Laddu Lal Mahato said they did not have the resources for long-term treatment of his son. “We are sitting here outside the hospital. The doctors are nice. We do not know when he will open his eyes. We have been told that he is in a coma. Even when he recovers, we have no idea how we will continue his medication,” he said.
A resident of 3 Rajendra Lal Street in north Calcutta, Ankit was trying to help his father run the family.
His father is an app cab driver and had for long been the lone breadwinner of the family.
Ankit’s mother Lila Devi is a homemaker, his elder sister Khusbhu is married and his younger sister Sima is a Class X student.
The youth had completed his graduation from Maharaja Manindra Chandra College.
His family said he was looking for a job when his uncle offered him part-time work as a driver.
Ankit was only a replacement for his uncle, who had been working as a driver at the Rathi residence for years.
“There was a medical emergency in his family and the driver had to leave. As there was a wedding at our home, we requested him to provide a substitute. He introduced his nephew Ankit to us. He was working for us for around two months,” said a relative of the Rathis.