The pedestrian who was knocked down by an allegedly speeding Maruti Suzuki Swift on Salt Lake Bypass on Thursday afternoon died at the Chittaranjan National Medical College and Hospital early on Friday.
The 47-year-old woman, who police identified as Khuku Gayen, was walking across Salt Lake Bypass near Nicco Park with her son, who had appeared in a job examination in a Sector V firm earlier in the day, when the accident occurred.
A resident of Khejuri in Purba Medinipur, Khuku accompanied her son, Sandip, in his early 20s, to the city, the police said.
The youth at the wheel of the car went on to hit seven others, some of whom are being treated at the trauma care centre at SSKM Hospital.
The mother and the son were headed to Khuku’s brother’s house in Trinathpalli, on the fringes of Salt Lake, when the car hit her. The police said Sandip escaped unhurt.
“The mother had decided to accompany her son to Kolkata because this was the youth’s maiden visit to the city,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
“The woman managed to remove her son from the path of the speeding car but couldn’t save herself. She was critically wounded,” the officer said.
Khuku was taken to the Chittaranjan National Medical College and Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICCU. She was immediately given blood but she passed away hours later.
Samudra Biswas, who was driving the Maruti Suzuki Swift, is pursuing a postgraduate distance programme in law, another officer of the commissionerate said.
On Thursday, Biswas had dropped his father at Calcutta High Court and went to Salt Lake. He was returning from the township when the series of accidents happened, the officer said.
The Jadavpur resident has been arrested and charged under multiple sections of Indian Penal Code, including 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (rash driving) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty).
He was remanded in police custody for five days on Friday.
Avishek Mukherjee, Biswas’s counsel, moved a bail petition which the court turned down.
“He lost his nerve after jumping the first light. The act was not intentional. He was scared of what might happen if he got caught,” Mukherjee told The Telegraph.
On Friday, senior traffic police officers from Kolkata police as well as the Bidhannagar commissionerate conducted a survey on Salt Lake Bypass and the Chingrighata crossing to review the safety measures.
A report prepared by the police earlier states that Chingrighata is a complex intersection where apart from northsouth movement of vehicles, there is “heavy pedestrian crossover from a few major and minor roads including the EM Bypass, Canal South Road, Chowlpatty Road, extension of Jalvayu Vihar and Beleghata Main Road”.
Many pedestrians continue to walk across the perennially busy intersection despite the presence of a foot overbridge.
Many residents of Shanti Nagar, Sukantanagar and a few other pockets cross the road with bicycles to fetch drinking water from Beleghata.
On Thursday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had visited the injured at SSKM Hospital.
“I am saddened by the unfortunate road accident in Chingrighata. GoWB has taken strict action against the errant driver. The injured have been admitted to Govt. Hospitals & are being treated free of charge,” Mamata had tweeted on Thursday.
“I visited them at SSKM Trauma Care Centre today. The two victims who have been seriously injured will be given Rs. 1 Lakh as compensation, and the other 5 will be given Rs. 50,000 each.”