Kolkata: In a fresh twist to the case involving actress Sonika Chauhan, authorities on Thursday said that the actress’s mobile phone was missing from the scene of the accident.
“We are trying to locate her mobile phone. It may have crucial evidence on hours before the accident,” an investigating officer told News18, on condition of anonymity. The officer further added that Vikram Chatterjee, who was driving the car at the time of the incident, had changed statements on the presence of the phone when the car crashed. “First, he said that Sonika was carrying her phone. Then, later on he told the special investigation team (SIT) that he doesn’t remember whether she had her mobile or not,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, a city-based court allowed four people, who were with the duo at the party on the night of the accident, to record their statements before a judicial magistrate. The statements are likely to be recorded by the end of the day.
“We got information that Vikram and Sonika left the party for some other place for around 55 minutes. Vikram isn’t giving us much information on that. We need to know where they were,” said the officer.
News18 had reported on Wednesday that Vikram telling the Kolkata Police that he had drinks on the day of the accident that killed Sonika.
Vikram, who is out on bail, was behind the wheels of the car when it crashed on April 29, killing Sonika, with whom he said he’s been in a relationship with four months.
Police sources confirmed that Vikram admitted that he had drinks during an interview but said it was within limits and he was not intoxicated while driving.
“I had some rum and coke at Phoenix in Astor Hotel. The video of me with a glass in hand is from the underground night club in that hotel. The glass has cola in it but I was not intoxicated,” he told the police.
While recalling sequence of events, the actor said, “It was Sonika who was interested in going for the party. I was shooting at Swinhoe Lane (South Kolkata) and I picked up Sonika and another friend after work to go the party. Around 12:30 am, one of her friend’s offered to drop her home, but she insisted that I driver her.”
Police said that the actor maintained that he was driving at a speed of 60-70 km per hour at the time of the accident and wasn’t sure what caused the care to spin out of control. He has requested the SIT (which has been formed to investigate the accident) to look into any mysterious element that may have caused the accident. The actor will be questioned by the police on Wednesday as well. Highly place sources in the police department told News18 that the normal procedure to collect evidences from the accident site was not followed and that there was a chance that crucial evidence form the spot had been lost.