Sonika Simone Singh Chauhan (12 July 1989 – 29 April 2017) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

actress, tv host, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was a contestant at ''

Femina Miss India Miss India, also known as Femina Miss India, is a national beauty pageant in India that selects representatives to compete in the Miss World competition, one of the Big Four international beauty pageants. It is organized by ''Femina (India), F ...

'' and '' Miss Diva - 2013''.

Biography

She was born on 12 July 1989 the only child to a Christian mother, Sharon Singh Chauhan and a Hindu

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

father, Vijay Singh Chauhan. She was schooled at La Martiniere, Kolkata. She completed her higher education at Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru.

Death

Sonika sustained a fatal head injury in a car accident in the early hours of 29 April 2017. The vehicle belonged to

Vikram Chatterjee Vikram Chatterjee ( born 17 May 1988) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. He made his silver screen debut in 2012 with a supporting role in Mainak Bhowmik's ''Bedroom''. In the same year he acted in '' Elar Char Adh ...

, who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. Vikram took Sonika to Ruby Hospital, where she died from her injuries. Vikram initially denied that he was either speeding or under the influence of alcohol at a press conference, but forensic reports have confirmed that he was driving at a speed of 100–110 km/h just seconds before the collision with a jewellery store and a flag post on Kolkata's Rashbehari Avenue. Initially, Vikram was only booked under Section 304 A (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). But after a massive public outcry, police added the non-bailable section 304 (culpable homicide) against the actor. He was arrested on 7 July 2017 after a period during which he was absconding, and released on bail on 26 July 2017.

Legacy

On 12 July 2017, 'Sonika Chauhan 27 Foundation' was launched by her parents at Tollygunge Club as a gift and a contribution to Sonika Chauhan on her birthday. 'Sonika Chauhan 27 Foundation' will take forward the legacy of Sonika Simone Singh Chauhan by touching the lives of young people, without any discrimination of caste, creed or religion.

References

External links

* 1989 births 2017 deaths 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Female models from Kolkata Indian film actresses Indian women philanthropists Interscope Records artists Actresses from Kolkata Mount Carmel College, Bangalore alumni 20th-century Indian philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists Road incident deaths in India {{India-film-actor-1980s-stub