Kolkata: Businessman held for Kalighat accident – Times of India

KOLKATA: A 23-year-old businessman who ran over and killed a 44-year-old schoolteacher in Kalighat on Saturday, fled to Odish a after the accident and returned to the city on Sunday, was arrested from the Howrah station. Santosh Sahani, who has an electrical goods business in Kidderpore, was picked up by cops around 6am and was charged with rash and negligent driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was produced in a city court and remanded in police custody till March 4.

Around 7am on Saturday, schoolteacher Subhalakshmi Banerjee was on her way to her SP Mukherjee Road home after buying flowers from the Kalighat temple area when the car allegedly driven by Sahani hit her. Witnesses said Banerjee was trying to cross the road when it was signalled red for vehicular movement and was hit by the SUV when she reached the middle. The impact was such that Banerjee was flung in the air and fell on the bonnet of the vehicle. In his attempt to flee and to shake her off, the driver took a sharp turn to the right and Banerjee fell off. The fleeing driver did not stop but reportedly ran her over as he sped away.
The driver had allegedly even grazed a traffic official at the Rashbehari Avenue-Deshapran Sashmal Road crossing before speeding towards Kidderpore.
According to cops, once he reached his home, the driver left the car at a garage, took a bike to Howrah station and boarded a train to Odisha. “We traced his address from the vehicle’s registration number caught in the CCTV camera. When we found he had fled, we traced his cellphone tower. We arrested him when he came back to the city on Sunday,” said an officer.
Police said Sahani was with a group of friends and was returning from Dhakuria when the accident happened. He has told cops that he had fled in panic fearing he would be beaten up by locals.