  We propose an ekpyrotic bounce scenario driven by a second rank antisymmetric
Kalb-Ramond field, where the universe initially contracts through an ekpyrotic
stage having a non-singular bouncing like behaviour, and consequently, it
smoothly transits to an expanding phase. In particular, the KR field has an
interaction with a scalaron field (coming from higher curvature d.o.f) by a
linear coupling. The interaction energy density between the KR and the scalaron
grows faster than $a^{-6}$ during the contraction phase -- which has negligible
effects at the distant past, however as the universe continues to contract,
this interaction energy density gradually grows and plays a significant role to
trigger a non-singular bounce at a minimum value of the scale factor. The
bounce being symmetric and ekpyrotic, the energy density of the bouncing agent
rapidly decreases after the bounce during the expanding phase of the universe,
and consequently the standard Big-Bang cosmology gets recovered. In such
ekpyrotic bounce scenario, we find that the curvature perturbation gets a blue
tilted spectrum over the large scale modes -- not consistent with the Planck
data. To circumvent this problem, we propose an extended scenario where the
ekpyrotic phase is preceded by a quasi-matter dominated pre-ekpyrotic phase,
and re-investigate the perturbation power spectrum. As a result, the primordial
curvature perturbation, at scales that cross the horizon during the
pre-ekpyrotic stage, turns out to be nearly scale invariant that is indeed
consistent with the recent Planck data. The hallmark of the work is that
although the Kalb-Ramond field has negligible footprints at present universe,
it has considerable impacts during early stage of the universe, which in turn
makes the universe's evolution non-singular.
