6 of City family killed in accident

Their pilgrimage to Tirupathi temple was cut short

All the six members of a family from the City were killed when the car in which they were travelling rammed a fuel tanker on the National Highway 4 near Mudugere Cross in Mulbagal taluk of Kolar district on Saturday.

The dead are Putta Venkateshaiah (73), his wife Pushpa Leela (67), son Aravind Putta (37), daughter-in-law Reena Putta (34), grandchildren Nisha (12) and Nitish (10), police said.

The family, residing at 5th Main, Kumaraswamy Layout, was on its way to Tirupati on the eve of the 47th wedding anniversary of Venkateshaiah and Pushpa Leela which falls on Sunday.

Aravind, who was driving the car, is said to have lost control while trying to avoid a huge pothole on the road. The car then collided with the tanker head on. All the six were killed on the spot.

The family had left for the pilgrim city on Saturday early morning and was scheduled to visit the temple on Sunday morning.

They were supposed to leave for Bangalore Sunday evening, according to Aravind’s elder sister Lakshmi Srinivas.

Villagers rushed to the accident spot and helped the police in retrieving bodies from the mangled vehicle. Traffic was stalled on the stretch for more than four hours.

Police informed Lakshmi’s husband, Srinivas, about the accident around 10.30 am. The bodies were brought to the City around 6 pm and cremated at the Electric Crematorium in Wilson Garden around 8 pm.

Meanwhile, the victims’ relatives have refused to believe that Aravind drove rashly. He was a good driver and was equally at ease with right- and left-side driving. He always wore the seat belt, his nephew Nitin M S said.

The family hailed from Hindupur town of Andhra Pradesh and had settled in Bangalore nearly 13 years ago when Aravind landed a job at the Infosys Technologies. Aravind, who studied engineering in Kurnool, AP, worked with Aris Global, before opening Indian Institute of Design, an interior and fashion design firm, at No 1401, Kanakapura Road, JP Nagar 1st Phase two years ago. His wife, Reena, assisted him in the venture.

Venkateshaiah was once a manager in the Hindupur branch of a transport company. He ran an auto finance business in Bangalore.

Venkateshaiah has three children, Putta Prakash (44) being the eldest.

Nisha was in class 5 in Sri Aurobindo Memorial School, Banashankari 2nd Stage, and Nithish was in class 3.

Relatives inconsolable

Relatives who attended the funeral ceremony at the electric crematorium, Wilson Garden, were inconsolable. They could not control their emotion as Putta Prakash, the eldest son performed the last rites.

The cremation was attended by a large number of the family’s relatives.