Police have arrested a first-year college student who was allegedly at the wheel of the SUV that apparently lost control and crashed at the intersection of Syed Amir Ali Avenue and Gurusaday Dutt Road early on November 14.
Jayantika Jhunjhunwala, 18, who was in the car, was killed.
Arnav Chowdhury, 18, a first-year student of commerce at a south Kolkata college, was arrested on Monday night.
The police took him into custody hours after he was discharged from Belle Vue Clinic, where he was admitted after the crash a fortnight ago.
Deputy commissioner (traffic) Sunil Yadav said Chowdhury had been booked under Section 304 (Part-II) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder where the accused person has the “knowledge” of the consequences of his action.
According to the rulebook, the charge that Chowdhury has been booked for, if proved in court, could lead to a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail.
Jayantika, a first-year student of St Xavier’s College, was sitting on the left rear seat of the Volkswagen Taigun that Chowdhury was driving, the police said.
The SUV, which was travelling through Syed Amir Ali Avenue from the direction of Gariahat towards Park Circus, hit the kerbside railing while turning left to Gurusaday Dutt Road and then crashed into a milk van coming from the opposite direction.
The car had four people, all teenagers. Jayantika was declared dead at the hospital, while Chowdhury and another young man, who was in the front passenger seat, were hospitalised.
Chowdhury had suffered nose and right foot injuries, officials at the hospital had said. The boy sitting next to him had four displaced ribs and fractured his right upper arm.
The fourth, a girl who was next to Jayantika, was discharged from the hospital after the crash.
Yadav said during the investigation that the accident was caused by “speeding”.
“The accused youth said he could not negotiate the speed while turning left and first hit the railing and then a milk van,” the officer said.
Chowdhury, who is a resident of New Town, was arrested while he was on his way home after being discharged from the hospital, the police said.
He was produced in the Alipore court on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody till December 13.
The police said they could question Chowdhury in judicial remand in connection with the investigation.
