Riya Kumari, who went by the name Isha Alya on social media, her husband Prakash, a filmmaker, and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter were driving from Ranchi to Kolkata to shop for the child’s birthday. Prakash drove to the nearest hospital with his injured wife but she had died by then.
Prakash, the only witness, was questioned several times by police. “The husband has given several statements. We are verifying all of them. All angles are being probed,” said Howrah (rural) police superintendent Swati Bhangalia.
Besides a single gunshot wound on the temple, a preliminary post-mortem on Riya did not find external injuries that could indicate physical struggle, police sources said. Police have also collected some CCTV footage from a factory off NH 16, whose security guard was the first person that Prakash sought help from after the incident.
Talking to reporters outside Rajapur police station in Uluberia, Prakash said: “Around 5am, I had stopped the car to relieve myself. My wife was in the car feeding the child. I felt someone snatch my wallet and turned around to see a gun pointed at my face. At that point, Riya stepped out of the car and tried to accost them. She even pushed the person holding the gun, but he shot her. She screamed and fell down. I was stunned and distraught. The miscreants fled.”
‘Walked to factory off NH-16, sought police stn’s number’
Prakash, the husband of Jharkhand actor Riya Kumari, who was shot dead near Bagnan during an alleged robbery attempt early on Wednesday, told reporters that after the incident he walked to a factory off NH-16 and asked for the local police station’s number.
He was unaware that a Traffic Police Guard was less than 100 metres from the spot. He called up the police, returned to his vehicle, put his bleeding wife on the back seat, and drove away. Police reached the spot after he had left.
Prakash claimed that “for the next three hours” hedrove with the car windows rolled down and screaming for help. He stopped when he noticed some people at a roadside tea stall. The place he had reached was Kulgachhia, which is about eight kilometres from the spot where Riya was shot.
The locals, Prakash said, helped him to contact Rajapur police and take his bleeding wife to Uluberia’s Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Medical College Hospital but Riya was dead by then. “The woman was in a pool of blood. She was dead,” the tea stall owner said.
Prakash told reporters he directs short films and his wife was an actor and Youtuber. He also told cops he had business interests in mining, sources said.
Howrah Police has informed Jharkhand Police and the cops are now waiting for Riya’s kin to reach Howrah and lodge a formal complaint.
Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMikwFodHRwczovL3RpbWVzb2ZpbmRpYS5pbmRpYXRpbWVzLmNvbS9jaXR5L2tvbGthdGEvamhhcmtoYW5kLWFjdG9yLXNob3Qtb24taGlnaHdheS1pbi13ZXN0LWJlbmdhbC1odXNiYW5kLWNsYWltcy1yb2JiZXJ5LWJpZC9hcnRpY2xlc2hvdy85NjU4MjY2MC5jbXPSAY4BaHR0cHM6Ly9tLnRpbWVzb2ZpbmRpYS5jb20vY2l0eS9rb2xrYXRhL2poYXJraGFuZC1hY3Rvci1zaG90LW9uLWhpZ2h3YXktaW4td2VzdC1iZW5nYWwtaHVzYmFuZC1jbGFpbXMtcm9iYmVyeS1iaWQvYW1wX2FydGljbGVzaG93Lzk2NTgyNjYwLmNtcw?oc=5
