The 27-year-old girl, who was severely injured after a car rammed into the gearless scooter she was riding pillion on in New Town on Sunday night, died on Wednesday afternoon.
Neha Giri was riding back home on her 29-year-old sister Nisha Giri’s Vespa after watching a film in New Town’s Downtown Mall when a Maruti Suzuki Brezza crashed into their scooter at high speed from behind.
Neha suffered a severe head injury and was admitted to the Institute of Neurosciences Calcutta in Mullickbazar where she was put on ventilator support.
“She was brought here in a critical state and passed away on Wednesday afternoon,” an official of the hospital said.
On Sunday night, the car had apparently lost control after hitting a guardrail and went on to hit the scooter.
Kaushik Bera, who stays in New Town’s Action Area III, was at the wheel of the car. A senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said they had charged Bera under several sections of the IPC, including 304A (causing death by rash or negligent act).
“Initially, we had charged Bera with rash driving.We added section 304A that pertains to causing death by rash or negligent act when we learnt that the woman had passed away in the afternoon,” said the officer.
Several persons, who had seen the accident, had chased the car on their bikes and found Bera sitting unconscious at the wheel around 3km away from the accident site, an officer of the commissionerate said.
Bera, too, is undergoing treatment for his injuries at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
The sisters hail from Bokaro and would stay in a rented accommodation in Sukhobrishti housing complex for the past several months after they bagged jobs in the city.
The sisters’ cousin Raunak Giri said that he grew up with Neha in their Rishra home and found it hard to believe that she was no more. “Neha grew up with us in our house. She used to ride her scooter slow due to which we would make fun of her. Its unfair that she had to pay with her life for no fault of hers,” said Raunak.
According to him, they were taking Neha’s body back to Bokaro for last rites as most of their family and friends stay there. They made a brief stop at the Rishra house before the hearse and other vehicles headed for Bokaro.
Neha’s friend Mohammed Zahid said he wanted a thorough probe into the crash and wanted the driver of the car that hit the scooter behind bars. “We want a proper investigation and want the man to be punished. I still cannot believe that she is no more,” said Zahid.
Raunak also echoed Zahid and said that they would meet senior officers of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate once they were done with Neha’s last rites.
“Nisha has been inconsolable. She can barely speak. We want stringent action against the man who was at the wheel of the SUV that hit the scooter and then instead of helping them fled from the area,” said Raunak.
The police said preliminary investigations based on footage garnered from CCTV cameras placed along the road revealed that the car had travelled from Unitech bus stop to the traffic signal in front of the Uniworld City complex a distance of 1.80km in 60 seconds.
“At one point the car was doing speeds in excess of 110kmph,” the officer said.
Bera’s car hit Nisha’s Vespa and the impact threw Neha who was riding pillion, into the air.
New Town resident Saikat Das, who was driving behind the gearless scooter, had taken both the sisters to the Charnock Hospital within minutes of the accident.
On Monday afternoon, Neha’s family members shifted her to the Institute of Neurosciences Calcutta in Mullickbazar where she was put on ventilator support.
