Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee dies in mishap

Kolkata: Popular folk singer Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee was killed in a road accident at Gurap in Hooghly on Tuesday morning leaving, the music-lovers in a state of shock. He was 56. The singer is survived by his wife and a daughter.

He left home at Santoshpur in south Kolkata around 7am to travel with five members of his Bengali band ‘Dohar’ in their SUV — a Toyota Innova — to Suri of Birbhum where they were scheduled to perform at an event.

At around 8.50am, their car lost control while running at a high speed on the Durgapur Expressway and veered to the left. The four-wheeler hit the low iron fencing of the road and fell into a waterbody from a height of at least 15feet.

The accident took place as the SUV was passing through a culvert. Kalikaprasad died on the spot while his band members were injured. The villagers took out them of the mangled SUV.

The spot was barely 20km from the place where chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee met with an accident and suffered deep injuries in October.

Kalikaprasad was declared brought dead at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital. Five others: Niladri Roy, Arnab Roy, Sandipan Pal, Sudipto Chakraborty and Rajib Das were admitted for treatment. Their condition is said to be serious.

Superintendent of police (Hooghly) Sukesh Kumar Jain inspected the spot. He later said, “We are investigating how the accident occurred.” A mechanical fault in the SUV is suspected by the police as the cause of the accident.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee mourned the singer’s death. “Shocked at the tragic demise of Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee of Dohar. His passing is a big loss to Bengali music. Kalikaprasad’s demise is a personal loss,” she tweeted.

She added,“He was a close friend. Condolences to his family and fans.” Describing Kalikaprasad as “very down-to-earth”, Ms Banerjee stated, “His songs in free voice at the dais during Singur-Nandigram movement inspired us.”

She elaborated, “As a founder-member of Dohar, the Bengali band of folk songs, Kalikaprasad’s role was very positive in popularising folk music. The West Bengal government awarded him ‘Sangeet Samman’ for his contribution to music.”

Ms Banerjee announced her goverment would accord state honour to the singer before his last rites. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi also expressed his grief over Kalikaprasad’s death.

A statement from Raj Bhawan said, “Governor Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi expressed his heartfelt condolences on the premature death of Kalikaprasad Bhattacharya, a noted Folk Singer, Researcher and a collector of folk songs.” In the afternoon, the singer’s body was brought to the city from Burdwan. On way, the convoy stopped near Nabanna where Ms Banerjee paid tribute to him and offered condolences to his family.

The body was taken to Kalikaprasad’s residence at Santoshpur from where it was brought to Rabindra Sadan.