Tangra deaths: Teen records statement before Sealdah court
Times of India | 22 March 2025
Kolkata: Fourteen-year-old Pratip Dey, a minor member of the Dey family who survived a car crash on the EM Bypass on Feb 19, recorded his confidential statement before a Sealdah court on Friday.
The boy previously told a state child rights functionary that his mother, Sudeshna, and aunt, Romi, backed out of a suicide pact at the last moment. However, his father and uncle — Pranay Dey and Prasun Dey, who also survived the crash — refused to relent and slashed their wrists, killing them. He also told West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) adviser Ananya Chakraborti that his uncle, on his father's instructions, tried to smother him with a pillow. He survived by using "yoga techniques" of breath control and by playing dead, Chakraborti said on Feb 27.
On Friday, the teenager was brought to the court around 3 pm from NRS Hospital, where he is still admitted. He was taken to the court of the third judicial magistrate on a wheelchair, where he stayed for more than one hour, an officer said. The officer added that the court is treating him as a prime witness. Previously, Prasun Dey, accused in the Tangra case, recorded his confidential statement before the same court. After being discharged from NRS Hospital, Prasun was arrested. The police claimed that Prasun confessed to the murders